Hideaway
by AuroraDannon
Summary: Frank and Joe attempt a vacation away from everything. What happens when 'everything' doesn't want to leave them alone?
1. chap 1, bit 1

**A/N **So I decided to take my own addvise to Cairisrin. This will be my attempt at trying to write every night to get the juices flowing. The goal here is to write everyday and post what ever it is. I will try to at least get to natural scene breaks. MY plot is alot more simple than Cairisrin's but I am still enjoying it. This experiment seems to be working already. I even wrote a little today in my HB/Supernatural cross :)

**HIDE-A-WAY**

"Dad, we'll be fine!" an exasperated Joe Hardy said into the phone, sounding like it had not been the first time he had said that statement. "Its just a little vacation. Frank and I will be fine."

"Yeah dad. We've done this many times before." Franks voice came through the line, making Joe smile. Surveying his room, Joe made sure he wasn't missing anything from his pack.

He and Frank were getting ready to meet in the middle of the continent to have spring break together. While they talked with each other constantly, and even saw each other on holidays, it was getting increasingly harder for the brothers to spend time alone together. With Frank Pre Law at Stanford, and Joe at New York State, it was hard to even get coinciding vacations.

The sound of his father voice brought Joe back to the conversation on the phone. "I know you boys can handle your selves, but every time you go off on your own something happens."

Frank cut in, "Dad, that was years ago, and neither Joe nor I have been working on any cases for quite sometime. We'll be fine. I think we have dropped off many radars."

Joe had to hold in his snort. He knew for a fact that Frank had worked a few low level cases while at Stanford. He had called for Joe's opinion on a few, not that Joe hadn't done the same. They both just thought it best to keep it away from their worried parents. Mom was grateful that they seemed to have turned away from following in their father's footsteps, and Dad was glad that they were out finding themselves.

"Seriously dad, we are going to be out in the middle of nowhere. No one but you and mom know we are going. There is a CB in the cabin and we are only 20 miles from the nearest ranger station." Sometimes Joe surprised himself when the sensible comments came out. The separation between him and Frank had caused a noticable maturity in him. He was both proud and ashamed at this change in his personality, even though he knew it was for the better.

"That's what scares me most boys. Just please be careful. And _please_ take the satellite phone with you. Call Mom every night, or at least send her a picture or something. It would make her feel better."

There dad went again, using the guilt trip of 'mom.' Which always worked. And with dad overseas on a case, mom was left home with aunt Gertrude, and they would be racking themselves with worry over _all_ the Hardy men.

"Fine, I will swing by tonight, on my way to the airport."

"You better swing by a little earlier. Aunt Gertrude is going to want to feed you." Frank joked with him.

"Yum, Free food. That I won't complain about. But if that's the case, then I better leave now to make it to Bayport and back in time."

"I'm glad you boys are getting this time together. And I'm really glad that you are taking the phone. Be safe. Call often. I love you boys."

"We love you too, dad." They said together. "I'll see you in a week." Joe added just before he heard the click of his father hanging up.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in about ten hours. Send my love to aunt Gertrude and mom for me."

"Okay, Frank. Safe drive to the airport."

Joe sat down on his bed and took off the earpiece. He took a deep breath and looked around his dorm room. "Well, I guess I should get this show on the road." Joe hefted his bags onto his shoulders and headed out of the room.


	2. Chap 1, bit 2

Frank sighed and stretched as he got off the plane. Looking at his watch he noticed that because of his delay he had less then an hour until Joe's plane landed. Suddenly his stomach made itself known. "Okay, I guess I can grab something to eat while I wait."

He made his way towards Joe's terminal, and noting where the gate was he headed towards sustenance. Grabbing a quick burger, and thinking of his brother's appetite, he added an extra large order fries. Once he got his food, he sat down to eat while watching the latest on the news.

One of the highlights was of a strange light being seen over the skies the last few nights. They were still looking into the story and no one seemed to know anything about it. Plus, the military denied repots of any weapons testing.

The weather report said there was a chance of a snowstorm hitting in the next few days. Frank was very glad he had packed bags for cold weather. _California must be getting to me. I can't seem to handle the snow as easy as I used too. _

Then Frank heard the call for Joe's flight arriving. Minutes later, Frank saw Joe exit the gate. "Joe!" he called out. Hearing his name Joe looked around and then bounded towards his brother.

Frank stood just as Joe reached him. Joe dropped his bags and enveloped his brother in a fierce hug. "Whoa, little brother!" Frank exclaimed as he was almost knocked over. "It hasn't been _that_ long since we saw each other."

Joe pulled back, smiling ruefully. "I know, but its not like we really get to spend time together, you know. Someone else is always in the way, and the time usually goes so fast."

"Okay. I get it." Frank smirked.

"We got a car yet?" Joe asked, snagging one of Franks fries.

"I thought you ate?"

"Oh, yeah, Aunt Gertrude went all out. Even sent me with cookies"

"Then why are you stealing my dinner?" Frank could barely keep in his laughter at his brother's bottomless stomach.

"Because flying makes me hungry! And _you_ never answered my question."

Frank bent down to pick up his bags, "Nope. There really wasn't time. My flight was a little late. Figured we could go together and head out from there."

"Sounds like a plan. I still have a bag to pick up." Joe stated, as he snagged more fries from Frank.

_It's a good thing I think ahead. _"Yeah, I do, too." He replied, as Joe just took the carton from him. _And it's a good thing I'm not hungry anymore._ Sighing and shaking his head, Frank led the way to the baggage claim.

They quickly got their bags and got their SUV squared away. In no time at all they were on the road. Joe was picking the music and trying to eat an ice cream cone, they he had picked up on his way out of the terminal, at the same time.

"Joe, you are going to drip all over the interior, and I'm _not_ going to pay for the clean up bill." Joe just laughed and continued to slurp and search for just the right song.

Frank was glad to see Joe so happy. They both really did need this vacation. Frank was starting to stress with his LSATs coming up in a few months, and both of their parents had expressed worry to him about Joe. Dad seemed to think he was being a little aimless with school. Frank promised their mother that he would talk about it with Joe at some point during this vacation.

"Frank?"

"What?"

After a moment of silence he glanced at Joe. He must have missed some part of the conversation.

"I was just making sure that you didn't bring any school work with you. This is going to be a school free zone." Joe's voice was determined and set.

"I left it all in my dorm." Must have been the right answer because Joe straightened in his seat and resumed his attack of the melting ice cream cone. "How can you eat ice cream when there is snow outside? Wouldn't you rather have something to keep you warm?" Frank picked up his hot chocolate and tilted it for show towards Joe.

"Not really. I love hot cocoa as much as the next guy, but I really crave ice cream when it's snowing."

"You are so warped!" Joe just grinned. "So, how did we get this place anyway?"

"Ah, my roommate," Joe paused to catch a few drips. "His dad owns a timeshare, but they all went on a cruise instead."

Suddenly there was a loud popping noise and the SUV swerved to the side of the road. Frank fought for a moment to get control of the vehicle. Once they stopped, both brothers looked at each other with trepidation. The a grin threatened to split Joe's face as he showed Frank that the ice cream cone was still intact and nothing had spilled.

Frank just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Sighing loudly to cover his amused chuckle, he got out of the car to assess the damage.

When Joe joined him, Frank was already getting into the back to look for a spare tire. "Looks like we blew a tire."

"Naw. Really? I thought we hit a log back there." Avoiding the daggers that were sent his way, Joe shoved the rest of the cone into his mouth and helped Frank get the spare out.

Once the tire was changed and both boys were warming, up again Joe took out a map. "Looks like we're only a few miles from our turnoff. Then we have about twenty miles from there to the cabin."

"Okay. Just tell me when."


	3. Chap 1, bit 3

A/n So the experiment seems to be working well. I have even been working on another story besides this one! WOOT! I encourage others to join in with this experiment, too . :)

Thanks go to Cairisrin who calls me everynight and goes on comma patrol with me.

Tomorrow night I will try and have something up, but its girls night and the one night when Sam and Dean take precidence over everything. :P

"Yay! We are finally here!" Joe exclaimed, as he burst in the front door of the cabin, immediately dropping his bags and raising his arms in victory.

"Great! Now will you move, so I can go put all my stuff away?"

Joe turned around to see Frank precariously standing in the doorway, laden down by multiple bags. Joe smiled at him. "Ah, Come on. Just drop them in the doorway, too. We can deal with putting things away later!"

Frank just stood and stared at Joe. After a few moments, Joe gave in laughing as he stepped aside for Frank to head to a room. "I get the shower first than." He called after his brother's retreating form.

Joe reached over and closed, the door locking it behind him. He moved his suitcase closer to the couch, then just stared at it wondered if he should take his brother's advise of emptying everything out and putting it in its place. Snorting to himself, he got up and headed towards where he thought the shower would be.

Thirty minutes later, and feeling much more refreshed, Joe emerged from the bathroom, steam billowing out around him. He found Frank sitting on the couch reading a book. "Hey, you get all your stuff put away?"

Frank looked up at Joe and then quickly looked away again. "Joe couldn't you at least get dressed before coming out here?"

Laughing, Joe replied, "I came to get my clothes. Its not _my_ fault _you_ are sitting where my suit case is." Joe bent down to rummage through his suitcase to find something decent to wear.

"I took the room on the right across from the bathroom. Why don't you take your suitcase to the room at the end of the hall and get dressed there?"

"Aha!" Joe exclaimed, as he pulled out a rumpled shirt and a pair of sweats. Then he made a big show of closing the suitcase and dragging it across the floor to his room, dropping a few items along the way. A few moments later he emerged fully dressed. "This better for you?" He called from the end of the hallway.

Frank looked up to see Joe grabbing the few dropped items as tossed them into his room. "Much." Was his only comment, as he went back to his book.

Joe all but threw himself down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "So, now what?"

Frank mentally marked his page and set his book on his lap. "What do you _mean_ now what? This is a vacation. That means relaxing and stuff like that."

"No, this is supposed to be brotherly time. And I don't do relaxing very well. So, I ask again. Now what?"

Frank rolled his eyes heavenward. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Not really. You're the planning type. I'm the fly by the seat of my pants type. I kind of figured you would have things planned already." Joe looked at Frank expectantly.

"I do. I _plan _on reading my book." With that said, he picked up the book again and proceeded to read.

Joe sighed very audibly, and then turned to stare at the ceiling. Then he started humming. Quiet at first. Then he built in volume. Then he was saying the words, "This is the song that never ends."

"Joe, would you please stop that," Frank protested.

"Yes, it goes on and on my friends."

"Joe," he growled, with a bit of warning this time.

"Some people started singing-" Joe was cut off as a pillow was thrown in his face. "Hey!"

"That's very annoying you know."

Joe flipped over to stare wide-eyed at his brother. "No. Really?"

Frank threw up his hands. "Fine, we can do something." He scanned the room and spotted a chessboard sitting on a side table.

Joe followed his line of site. "Oh, cool! I have been practicing!" He got up and brought the chessboard over. Once it was all set up and both brothers sitting, he stated. "Be prepared to be amazed!"

Ten minutes later the game was over and Joe had only made ten moves. "Man! That sucks."

"Well you lasted a lot longer then you normally do." Frank pointed out.

"Yeah, but I was hoping for something that would last longer than that." With a heavy sigh he got up off the floor. "Well, I think I will just go to bed now. It is late and I would love to get up early in the morning to do some hiking!"

"You, go to bed early? Are you feeling okay?" Frank asked, feigning worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You enjoy your book, big bro. You're not going to be able to pick it up again this trip." Joe's eyes flashed mischievously as he headed towards his room. "Night."

"Good night!" Frank called after him.


	4. Chap 1, bit 4

The first thing Frank noticed was the smell of bacon. Then he caught the faint aroma of coffee. "Breakfast?" He questioned out loud while opening his eyes. Then he noticed that it was still dark outside. Glancing at the clock he realized it was only six thirty in the morning. Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his robe as he headed towards the kitchen.

"No way, is Joe Hardy, up this early in the morning, let alone cooking breakfast." Frank was dumbfounded and it showed clearly on his face.

Joe turned to Frank with tongs in hand. "Well, for me it's eight thirty. Plus, I just couldn't sleep anymore. I was too excited. So, how do you want your eggs?" The words came tumbling from his mouth.

Frank grinned. "Scrambled is fine. You never answered me about the cooking part."

Joe grinned as he turned around to tend to the bacon. "Well, after a month of fast food and missing Mom and Aunt Gertrude's cooking, I took it upon my self to learn. I have perfected the simple breakfast." He paused to grab a few eggs, cracking them one handed over the skillet. "Lunch, well, usually ends up being some kind of sandwich. You would be proud of me though" He turned to Frank while he was stirring. "I have been eating more than just greasy fried food. I even eat whole wheat bread!"

"Oh no!" Frank deigned shock.

"_Ha ha_. Seriously, being on my own has taught me some very valuable things. I even like cooking. And the girls like it even more!"

"Ah, now the _real_ truth comes out."

"Yeah, well at least I have been going on dates. How about you? You seeing anyone?"

"Nah, not really. There is a girl that I keep running into at the Library, but one of us is always coming as the other is going."

"_Maybe_ you should stop sometime and say _hi_," Joe said sarcastically as he went to the refrigerator and pulled out the orange juice. Pouring some into the glasses he had waiting, he took one over to Frank and drank some himself before continuing. "You know, it's ok to look for other girls. You and Callie broke up. You may still be friends, but you're not _Boy_friend and _girl_friend anymore."

"I know. It's just been with school being so crazy, I haven't really had time to think about it. The LSATs are coming up in the fall and I am studying like _mad_ for them. I think once that craziness is over I might be able to break my concentration a little for other things."

"Yeah, well, girls won't wait around forever! If there is something possible, you should at least pursue a friendship before you regret it later on."

Frank leaned back to really watch Joe as he was talking. It amazed him how much the last three years had changed Joe. Here he was getting sound advise from his impetuous brother. All though, Frank had to admit to himself that these few years apart seemed to really have mellowed out Joe and matured him some.

"Wow. It's way to early for me, to be taking sound relationship advice from my brother, the self-admitted flirt. It's still not even six for me, remember?"

Laughing, Joe pulled out a plate full of warm pancakes from the oven and set them next to Frank.

"Simple breakfast, my ass! When did you have time to make all of this?" Joe just shrugged and popped a piece of bacon into his mouth as he brought the rest of the food over and sat next to Frank. Then he helped himself to a large serving of pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

_Joe really amazes me sometimes. I think Mom and Dad were right about this vacation together. It will be really nice to reconnect with Joe. _

"So, how has school been for you? What have you been taking?"


	5. Chap 1, bit 5

A/N Sorry about missing a day guys. PC was about to be shot! Had to revamp the whole thing. Then, my Otherhalf went and lost a good bit of the discs I needed to get things up and running again. Warning, tonight's chapter was written really late and wasn't sent off for a quick beta. So, all mistakes herein are mine.

HBHBHB

_Joe really amazes me sometimes. I think Mom and Dad were right about this vacation together. It will be really nice to reconnect with Joe. _

"So, how has school been for you? What have you been taking?"

HBHBHB

"Ah, you know. Boring. Well, at least for me. Just dealing mostly with the prereqs really. English, Math, Sciences." Joe intoned sounding bored. "There was this class that I took last semester, just for the fun of it."

"Really, tell me about it." Frank could tell that Joe seemed to like this one.

"Well, please don't laugh."

"Why would I laugh?"

"Well," Joe huffed. "I just," He paused again.

Frank was very curious now. "Just spit it _out_."

"I needed an elective type class and I couldn't decide. So, I just grabbed the book flipped it to a page and pointed to something. I forced my self to write down _whatever_ it was. The class was called '_Adventures of Extra's_.' It was a drama class." Frank knew Joe was looking at him to gage his reaction, so he carefully schooled his features. Joe must have taken it as a cue to go on.

"I figured with some of our cases we were familiar with movie sets, and even just with our detective work it's like acting, _so_, I thought, _why not_. It was actually kind of fun. Towards the end of the semester, we even got onto a real set, playing the extras. There was a lot of work involved, for something like three minutes of screen time. And we weren't even the focus of attention!"

Frank finally did laugh. "Sorry." He held up his hand in a placating gesture. "What was the movie you were in?" Joe gave him a perplexed look, kind of shrugging his shoulders. "You don't know, or you don't want to tell me?"

"I really don't remember. They had three working titles at the time of filming. And, to be honest, I didn't really pay attention to them. We were only there for two days."

"So, I'm going to miss my little brother's big screen debut because he couldn't remember the name of the movie? What am I gonna tell the girls back home?"

Joe shoved Frank a little. "Stop it, smart ass."

Frank chuckled a little to himself as he ate another bite of food. "So, everything else good?"

"Chill, Frank. I know mom and dad are worried about me. I get it."

Frank looked up at Joe, a protest on his lips.

"I just haven't found what I want to do yet. Nothing seems to be calling to me." Joe leaned back in his chair, pushing his now empty plate away from him. "I always thought that I would follow in dads foot steps, you know? Maybe even go through the cop route. As a kid, I dreamed of being a cop and catching the bad guys, just like dad."

Frank turned to face Joe a little better.

"But, then, we did all that _amazing _stuff in high school. How do you top that? What do you do after that? We saw the world, Frank! We learned things that I could _never_ write about in a paper. So, now I'm just trying to find my self without becoming an adrenaline junkie."

"Well, there is always the offer from Arthur Grey," Frank interjected.

"Yeah, I know. But, more then likely, it will entail a nice cubicle in Nowhere, USA. Even with our history, with that man and the Network, I _seriously_ don't think we would get to see any kind of action. I'm not really talking about a lot, but I don't want to have a mundane life either."

"Following in dad's footsteps wouldn't be mundane." Frank pointed out.

"And mom really doesn't want to have to worry about us anymore. We both keep secrets from them, Frank." Joe stood up and gathered their dishes. "Anyway. I really want to go hiking today, so lets get cleaned up and get going!"

Frank sat still for a few moments watching Joe cleaning up the breakfast mess. He had a feeling that Joe was still keeping things to himself. Which was very unusual for Joe. _Or maybe he had changed that much in the last few years?_ Shaking his head in wonder Frank got up to help his brother.

In the next half hour they both got the kitchen cleaned and were almost ready to head out for the hike. Frank was waiting by the door as Joe was flinging clothing around his room. "You know, Joe, if you had just put everything away last night, you wouldn't be searching for your gloves now."

"_Ya,ya_. I never saw the point of unpacking your suitcase when your were only going to be at a place for a few days."

"But, we are here for the whole week!"

"So! That doesn't really make much-" Frank heard a little grunting and a triumphant aha, "difference. It's still not home." Joe came down the short hallway towards Frank brandishing his gloves.

Frank just shook his head and went out the door. "I caught the weather report as while at the airport. There is a chance of a snow storm in the next few days."

"Really?" Joe questioned as he turned from locking the door. He came and stood next to Frank on the porch. Both boys gazed out at the winter wonderland before them. "It _is_ spring, right?"

Frank just laughed, moving toward their rental he said, "Hold on, let's get a picture sent off of our first morning. Keep mom happy, nice and early."

"Good idea!"

They got a picture sent off of them standing next to a snow-covered tree. Locked the phone back into the truck and headed off. The first hour of the hike was in a companionable silence, interrupted by the occasional '_let's go that way_.'

Then, they heard distant gunshots. They both stopped and looked at each other. Unspoken communication flitted between them as they made the decision to investigate what was going on.

Half and hour of following the sounds they knew they were getting closer. "I think they are coming from two directions?" Joe whispered to Frank.

With an unspoken command, born from years of working together, they split up. Staying within sight range, they continued on.

At first Frank thought it might have been just poachers, but the shots were coming to frequently and almost at timed intervals. Frank paused to count the time in between shots when he heard Joe call out. He turned just in time to see Joe fall.

Frank rushed to his brother's side. "Joe!" he called urgently, gently prodding his body. Franks hands ghosted over Joe's body trying to find an injury. Then, he saw the blood pooling from around Joe's head.


	6. Chap 2, bit 1

With shaking fingers, Frank checked for a pulse. He pulled back in relief when he not only felt a strong beat, but Joe groaned in protest. "Hey there, little brother." Frank said softly, as he reached around to check the wound.

Joe's eyes fluttered open. "Hey, Frank. That was pretty clumsy of me wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about? It's not your fault you got shot."

"Shot!" Joe sat straight up. "I wasn't shot!" Then he closed his eyes and his hand went to the back of his head. "Oh man! My head hurts. And I'm a little dizzy." He pulled his hand back and stared at the blood covering it.

"Here let me try and stop the bleeding so I can see what kind of damage the bullet did." Joe just shrugged him off.

"I'm fine. I just-" He turned to look behind him a little. Squinting he saw the offending object covered in blood. "There." He pointed behind him wearily.

Frank stopped for a moment to examine the scene around him. With a calmer eye he could finally see what had happened. Joe must have stepped into an animal hole and then fallen backwards, hitting his head on the protruding rock that was now visible.

Frank turned back to Joe and held out his hand with two fingers up. "Joe." He waited for Joe to look up at him. "How many fingers?" Frank judged Joe's pupils while Joe was trying to focus on the object in front of him.

After a few moments of deciphering, Joe answered, "Two."

"Joe," Frank warned.

"Really. I see two, they're a little fuzzy, but I only see two!"

"Okay, I believe you." Frank took off his jacket and then stripped off his over shirt. After putting his jacket back, on he used his over shirt to bind the back of Joe's head. "It looks a little silly, _but_ it should work until we get back to the cabin. Then we can call the rangers, get you checked out, and report the gun shots."

"No, its okay. I'm fine. Really! I have a hard head. You know that." Joe said indignantly.

Frank rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long trip back. "Okay, lets get you up and start heading back." Moving slowly, they got Joe back up to his feet. All at once he cried out in pain and feel back down. "My ankle! Stupid animals! Having to put their holes out in the middle, just so people can trip in them. I bet that's their great plan, Frank. That's how they get back at the hunters." Frank couldn't help but laugh at Joe's ramblings. It made him feel a little bit better. Joe rambling was a good thing. It was one of the ways Joe dealt with frustration and pain. And at the rate he was going he must have plenty of both.

Frank made quick work of checking the ankle. While not broken, it was defiantly sprained. It was going to be a _very _long trip back to the cabin.


	7. Chap 2, bit 2

A/N Sorry guys. Very sick. Going to bed now.

HBHBHBHBHBHBHBHB

After over two hours of slow going, they finally made it back. Red faced and exhausted they both sat on the couch. After a few moments of resting, Frank forced himself to get up again. He moved the ottoman to Joe and then grabbed a few pillows to add some height to it. He went into the kitchen to see if there was anyway he could make an ice pack. Starting in the freezer, he was rewarded with three blue gel icepacks in the door, ready to go.

Hurrying back to Joe, he held up two icepacks and a towel. "Let's check out the ankle a little better now that we are inside where it's warm. Once Joe was comfortable and the ankle was wrapped in ice, Frank disappeared into his room. He came back in time to see Joe's eyes sliding closed. "Whoa! Hey, Joe! I need you stay awake a little bit longer for me, Okay?"

Joe opened his pain filled eyes. "Will you get me some Tylenol?"

Smiling, Frank deposited everything in his arms next to Joe on the couch. Rooting through it, he found the bottle of pain relievers and got out two for Joe. "Here you go, give me a sec and I'll get you-" He didn't even have time to finish as Joe popped them into his mouth and dry swallowed. "How are you doing?" Frank questioned softly, as he continued to organize the supplies he brought with him.

"Okay. My head is starting to throb and I'm getting tired."

As Frank went to remove the makeshift bandage he once again studied Joe's eyes. They seemed to be reacting well, which meant that most likely, Joe _did not _have a concussion. Which was a relief to Frank. "Let's get you fixed up and see how bad things are, then I can call the ranger station."

"Frank, really, I'm fine. Might need to bandage my head a little, you know how head wounds are. They just bleed like crazy, but they are mostly all show and not really _too_ bad."

Frank nodded his agreement, but silently vowed that once this was taken care of he was still going to call the ranger station. There was still the matter of the gunshots that got them into this mess to begin with.

Frank made Joe sit up straight and placed a few towels behind him. "This is going to hurt." Frank warned, before pulling away the now ruined shirt from Joe's head. Immediately he poured some water on the bloody patch of hair. Trying to softly probe the wound, he continued to pour the steady stream of water cleaning it out. Frank winced every time Joe winced, but he continued, knowing he was almost done. Joe was right, it really was more of a flesh wound than anything else. There was going to be a nice bruise in the area and there was a little swelling

"Well it looks like you are right, seems to be more of a surface wound." Frank dried the area with a large towel and then added some antiseptic cream. It didn't look like it would need stitches, but he needed to figure out a way to cover the area.

"Told ya!"

Frank snorted at Joe in response as he got the gauze ready to cover Joe's head. "Well, you're going to look pretty for a while. I'm sure the girls at school will pick up on the trend of the white gauze around the head." Frank deftly dodged the half-hearted swat from Joe.

He stood up and checked his handy work, grabbing the now wet towels. Joe looked up at him, and then looked at the couch around him. "Um, what are we going to tell them about the couch? Blood's a little hard to get out."

"We'll figure that out later. Why don't you try and get some rest."

Joe complied by shifting a little deeper into the couch and closing his eyes.

As soon as he was sure that Joe was asleep, Frank went to the CB radio and turned it on. But all he got was dead air. _Hum._ He tried turning a few knobs with no effect. He checked to make sure everything was in order. But still he got nothing. Then, he pulled out his pocketknife and used the screwdriver part to get into the machine itself. He noticed immediately that some wires were broken. Upon closer inspection he realized that they had been deliberately cut.


	8. Chap 2, bit 3

Frank examined the CB further. Not _only_ did he notice that the wires were cut, but he realized that there were also small parts missing. He sat back and really looked over it all. It was a little troubling. Seems he had a bit of a mystery on his hands. Why would someone do this? What was the purpose of it? And how long had it been this way?

Frank got up and checked on Joe. He seemed to be sleeping fine. Frank was still a little worried about his brother, so he headed out the SUV where they had left the satellite phone. Doing a mental calculation in his head, he figured it wouldn't be too late to call his dad and ask him a few questions. Getting comfortable in the drivers seat, Frank dialed his father.

"Hello?" Came his fathers voice after a few rings.

"Hey dad."

"Frank, how is the vacation going?"

Frank sighed heavily. "Well, we had a little bit of trouble today."

"What happened? How is your brother?" His father asked, knowing Joe's pension for trouble.

"Well, he's okay. Mostly." Frank proceeded to explain to his father all that had happened in the last few hours. "I was thinking I should call the rangers and let them know about the gun shots. But, when I went to use the CB I found that some wires had been cut and there were some pieces missing."

Frank could hear his father shuffling in the background. "Frank, did you bring your laptop with you?"

"No, Joe made me promise not to. There isn't any Internet connection out here anyway."

Frank could distinguish the sounds of a keyboard in the background. He could hear his father chuckling. "I bet. He would have had a hard time tearing you away from your studies if you had. Even without the net connection. Okay, I have the ranger stations in your area. The closest one to you, is the year round one. Do you have a pen for the number?"

Frank reached into the glove box and pulled out a pen. "Yeah, I have a pen, but I can't find any paper. Oh well, just tell me."

Fenton rattled of the number as Frank wrote it on the palm of his hand. "Why don't you call them now? You can call me back after you speak with them. I'll be awake. I have a massive amount of paperwork to go through here."

"Alright, dad."

"Oh, and Frank. You still need to call your mother as well."

Frank hung his head. What was he going to tell his mother about what happened? It was so hard to lie to her, and yet, he didn't really want her to know about this just yet.

"Don't worry Frank, I'm sure you'll come up with something to tell her. We can keep this under wraps for now. It's not like it's life threatening."

"Dad, are you reading my mind now?" Frank couldn't believe his dad was actually suggesting they subvert the truth.

"No son. I just know you very well. If she found out she would come and get you boys or at least insist on staying with you. You might be adults, but your _still_ her boys."

"Thanks, dad."

"Just remember to tell me what you said to her so I can corroborate."

"I will. I better go check on Joe again. I've been out here a while. and I better call the rangers before Joe protests again. I'll talk with you later, dad."

"Night, son."

After the click of the phone Frank dropped his head onto the steering wheel. He was starting to feel the exhaustion of the day creeping up on him. _Well, it_ is_ a vacation. There wouldn't be any harm in taking a nap. After I take care of everything._


	9. Chap 2, bit 4

A/N For some reason, this was very hard to write. Not really sure why. Might be that I'm tired, or this was just filler that is being a pain to write. I have a few action scenes that I really want to get too. :P Thanks for the reviews. I think I have answered all of you. I hope I can continue to keep you entertained.

HBHBHBHBHBHB

Frank got out of the vehicle and placed the Satellite phone in his back pocket. He headed back into the cabin and was a little surprised that he had been outside for half an hour. He went and checked on his brother again. Except for the slumping to the side, Joe seemed to still be sleeping peacefully.

Frank went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water before sitting down at the bar. Pulling out the satellite phone, he dialed the number on his hand.

"Clark County Ranger Station Number 5. This is Ranger Anderson. How can I help you?"

"Hi, My name is Frank Hardy. My brother and I are staying at the Mitchell cabin. I wanted to report hearing gunshots a few hours ago. It was a couple miles north of here."

"Ah, yes, there is a little hunters' show going on over there in a campsite. I had a few other reports about this as well. While they are making a lot of noise, they _do_ have a permit for what they are doing. As long as no one is hurt in the process, they should be there for the rest of the month."

"That explains it. Thank you for clearing that up." Frank paused for a moment. He wondered if Joe was right and if they should just take it easy themselves the next day or two. He didn't need to tell the ranger about his brother's injuries. _Did he?_

"Is there something else, son?" The ranger's warm voice went a long way to convincing Frank that it would be all right to tell him what had happened to Joe. This man might possibly help in getting a second opinion about Joe's injuries.

"Well, when my brother and I were out hiking earlier, he stepped into an animal den and fell over. I'm pretty sure he just sprained his ankle, but the fall caused him to hit his head on a rock. He's got a pretty nasty gash on the back of his head. I cleaned it up and it doesn't _look_ like it needs stitches."

"But you are looking for a second opinion?" The Ranger gently asked.

Frank was grateful for the man's insight. "Yes."

"Well, my partner should be arriving any minute now. Once I give him the updates, I can run down there to you boys and check everything out. How does that sound?"

"That would great. Thanks."

"Okay, I should be there sometime in the next half an hour."

"Alright. I'll see you then." Frank closed the phone and looked over at Joe. That should give him enough time to wake up his brother and get a phone call to their mom.

Frank went over and sat next to Joe. "Hey, Bro." He gently shook his shoulder. "We need to call mom." Joe groaned in response. "Come on, Joe. If you don't talk with her she's going to know something's wrong."

"Man! Just give me a few more minutes," Joe pleaded without even opening his eyes.

"Sorry. No can do. There is a ranger on his way to check you out. We should have just enough time to get this over with before he gets here."

Joe opened his eyes and looked at Frank. "You talked to the rangers? When?"

Frank laughed. "You've been out for at least an hour. I've talked with dad _and_ the rangers."

"You called dad?" Joe questioned.

"Yeah, the CB is broken. So dad gave me the number to call."

"Did you tell him what a klutz I am?"

"If you are asking if I told him about your accident, then yes. The whole family knows you're a klutz, Joe."

"Thanks, pick on the injured guy." Joe made to swing at Frank, but then stopped and held his head.

"Maybe it _is_ a good thing that the ranger is coming to check on you."

"He's coming to check on me? Why?" Joe looked truly perplexed.

"Because you hit your head and lost a fair amount of blood."

"Why did you even call them? I'm fine! I told you that!"

"I called them be cause of the gunshots we heard. And I thought it might be a good idea to get a second opinion on your thick skull."

"Hmph! I still don't know why you even had to tell them." Joe shook his head. "Lets just get this over with. Call mom."

Frank pulled out the phone again and was dialing home when Joe stopped him. "Wait! What are we going to tell her?"

"The truth." At Joe's disbelieving look he continued, "That you stepped into an animal hole and sprained your ankle. We are going to stay around here for the next day or so."

Joe smirked and nodded his acquiesce.

Frank called their mom. Both boys took turns talking with both their mother and their aunt. After a very quick conversation, with many reassurances that they were fine, it was over. Joe almost seemed breathless when he leaned back into the couch. He turned his head to look at Frank. "I'm glad that's over with."

"I am too. I wanna call dad back before the ranger gets here." Frank got up and started heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I can't remember if I locked the truck up or not. Just going to check while I call dad and fill him in about mom."

"Oh, okay." Joe slowly sat up. Then taking a large breath, he proceeded to stand up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Frank had reached the door but was poised to turn back and make his brother sit back down.

Joe rolled his eyes in indignation. "I'm going to the _bathroom_. I'm fine, Frank. I promise I can do this myself."

Frank just looked once more at his brother, trying to decided if he should at least help Joe to the bathroom or not. The look of determination set on his face told him that if he interfered Joe would probably harm himself more trying to push Frank away. With a shake of his head at his brother's stubbornness, Frank headed outside.


	10. Chap 2, bit 5

A/N I must apologize. I had planned on writing out a much longer scene for tonight, but a future scene kept intruding on my thoughts. I finally had to give in a write most of it out for fear of losing it. Once I had finished that I was able to come back and write tonight's bit. Unfortunately, by that time I was very tired again. Once again, I apologize, but on the bright side I actually have tomorrow off of work. 

HBHBHBHB

Joe moved even slower out of the bathroom than he had heading towards it. But he was determined to do it on his own. He paused at the kitchen counter. His ankle hurt and his head was throbbing, but he knew walking and stretching his ankle would be for the best. He would just have to take it slow for his head. Besides, he was really thirsty.

Slowly, Joe headed into the kitchen and got himself a glass and filled it with water. He was in the middle of a large gulp when he heard the door open. He set down the glass as he swallowed. "Hey, Frank. What did dad have to say?" He turned around to a man that defiantly was _not _Frank.

The man paused in closing the door, looking at Joe. "Ah, your brother said he would be right in, he was going to grab some fire wood. There's a bit of a nasty snowstorm coming in. Should be here in 'bout an hour." The man took off his hat; in a few strides he was near enough Joe to stick out his hand. "I'm Ranger Anderson."

Joe recovered from his surprise and shook the rangers hand. "I'm Joe."

"Your brother mentioned something about you taking a bit of a nasty fall earlier today?"

Joe hesitated. "Ah, yeah. It's really no big deal. Hit my head on a rock, kinda scratched it up some."

"Well, lets give it a cursory look. Just to check it out and make sure everything's okay."

Joe openly stared at the man for a few moments before nodding his head and sitting down on a chair at the table. Joe was silent as the ranger carefully removed the bandages from his head. There was loud thud from just outside the door, followed by a cry from Frank. Joe turned in his seat to go investigate what happened when he heard Frank yelling through the door. "I'm alright!"

Moments later the front door opened to revel Frank carrying an armload of wood. Raising his head a little Joe could see a few logs had fallen from Frank's grasp. And judging from Frank's limp they must have fallen on his foot.

"You okay?" Joe asked.

Frank dumped the logs near the fireplace and headed back out to retrieve the rest. "Ya, I'm fine. But your klutziness is catching." Joe snorted in response and turned back around so the ranger could get a better look at his head.

Joe felt a shiver go up his spine. Something was up but he wasn't sure what it was. There was something just _off_ about this man. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but Joe's instincts had never led him wrong. Well, maybe a few times. Or was that just his impetuousness? Whatever it was, Joe was sure that something wasn't right and he was going to pay attention to figure it out. Joe had learned one thing as he got older. People _always_ gave away clues to what they were truly about. You just had to learn to read them. Joe had made it a point in recent years to learn to read people, to listen to his instincts, yet keep his 'rush to action' under control.

Joe hissed in pain as the ranger probed in a tender spot on his head. Joe caught the mumbled apology as the man continued to work. It was then that Joe realized he had gotten lost into his own thoughts and was missing the conversation between Frank and this apparent Todd Anderson. As Joe focused more on the conversation between twitches of pain, he realized that they we talking about a Hunters Retreat that was going on in the area. They were, apparently, the ones causing all the noise. According to Ranger Todd, their whole set up was pretty sweet. They had a gun show going on and then a whole area of training exercises. There were timed courses as well as mazes. It was a year round retreat, but once a year they have a big rally that lasted about a month.

"Well, I would say that I agree with your assessment, Frank. The bleeding has stopped and aside from a bald spot, it should heal fine."

"What?! A bald spot!" Joe's hands immediately reached for the back of his head, only to be swatted away by his brother.

"Let the man finish his work. Your vanity will just have to get over a _tiny_ bald spot," Frank chided his brother.

Todd quickly redressed the head wound and then moved to stand in front of Joe. He looked down at Joe's foot propped up on another chair under the table. "Should we look at that, too?"

Joe pulled his foot away. "Naw, it's okay. It's just a sprain and I know how to deal with those."

Frank laughed heartily. "Yeah, he really does. My brother the Jock. Was there any sport you didn't play in school?"

Joe rolled his eyes as he got up to limp towards the couch once more. He sat so he could both be near the fireplace and watch Ranger Todd. Joe settled back and watched intently as the ranger and Frank conversed. He knew he was being uncharacteristically quiet, but he was tired and hurting, and he didn't think that he could handle both watching the ranger and putting on a fake smile for a fake conversation.

He listened as they started talking once again about the gun show thing.

"So, do you and your brother hunt?" Todd asked, as he looked around the place.

"No, Joe and I aren't really into guns." Joe kept quiet. Sure, they had both been taught _how_ to handle a gun. For those 'just in case' emergencies. Joe knew that Frank had an aversion to guns, but Joe had been going to the shooting range since he went to college.

"So, what brings you boys out here anyway?" The Ranger asked, as he was wondering around and looking at things on the walls.

Joe finally chose to answer. "Well, my roommate's family owns the place. They offered it to us when they decided to go on a cruise instead." Joe wasn't sure if he really saw a pause in the man's footsteps and the almost gleam in his eyes when he looked over at Joe.

"Well, that was very nice of them."

"Yeah, it was." Joe looked over at Frank, making eye contact. He really hoped that Frank got the message that he was ready for the man to leave. _Now_.

Frank did get the message and said, "Thank you so much for coming out and checking this, Ranger. I think I'm going to get Joe some food and send him to bed."

"Anytime, boys. And just call me Todd." He put on his hat and headed towards the door. "Have a great week. I'll see ya around."

As soon as he was gone Frank turned to Joe. "What's up with you tonight? You are being uncharacteristically quiet."

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Guess my head hurts more than I want to let on. And I'm tired."

"Bull! What's up? Something is going on in your head."

Joe wasn't ready to tell Frank that he was getting weird vibes from a man they just barely met. "Nothing." At Frank's disbelieving look he continued. "Really. I'm just tired and I thought this vacation was about us spending time together. I guess I'm a little bummed out because I got hurt and that puts a damper on things." Before Frank could comment, he added. "What happened to getting a fire going?"


	11. Chap 2, bit 6

An hour later both brothers were sitting on the couch staring at the fire, hot cocoas in hand while reminiscing about their childhood.

"Remember the time Chet and Iola's parents had gone out of town for the night and Mom offered for them to stay with us?" Joe asked Frank with a little bit of a wistful smile.

"Yeah, that was a great night. We were like, what? Ten, eleven?" Joe nodded his head at his brother. "I remember," Frank continued, "you convinced Iola to hide in the trunk in the attic that night. Then you forgot about her for an hour."

Joe looked at Frank. "I did not forget about her! We were planning a big scare for you and Chet. But neither of you would go for it."

Frank laughed. "That's because we knew what you two were up too. You were always trying to get us with something or other." Frank shook his head. "The poor girl. When she came down after being up there alone for so long, she was screaming mad at you. And saying something about a ghost or something."

Joe got a huge smile on his face. "Yeah, she was mad. She had let her imagination get a hold of her. But I calmed her down pretty fast."

"Yeah, I was always a little amazed at that. You two always fought like cats and dogs. I wondered what kind of relationship you could have."

"A good one. She's the one that I will always remember. And not just because of the way she died." Joe paused for a moment, catching his breath at the still hard memory. "She was truly a great person and so full of life."

They sat in silence for a while just watching the fire, each lost in their own memories. "That night, after the attic incident? That was our first kiss."

"What?!" Frank almost choked on his cocoa. "You were ten!"

Joe smiled. "Yeah, so? I was a player even then."

"Man, if Chet knew that, he would _so_ kick your ass."

"He's not going to find out." Joe looked pointedly at Frank.

Frank nodded his headed and asked, "Have you heard from him lately?"

"Yeah, he's doing good. He's in a different dorm than me. And our schedules are so busy that we rarely see each other. I did make it to every football game this year. It was nice to see him play. You hear from any others of the old gang?"

"Not so much. Phil's at MIT. You know about Tony and his father expanding the Pizza place. They seem to be doing very good with that."

"Yeah, they have one opening up near the University in a few months. I'm excited. Tony is even going to be over seeing the set up." Joe licked his lips in anticipation of the pizza. "I haven't heard from Biff in a long time."

"Neither have I. Have you heard from Vanessa?"

Joe was quiet for a minute. "No. Last time I checked she was in Europe with her mom working on a big project. They are really starting to make a name for themselves." Joe sat in a sullen silence. He did care for Vanessa, but it wasn't a very fair relationship for her. And while Joe would have loved to at least stay friends, their break up had been anything but easy.

"It's not your fault, you know," Frank tried tentatively.

"Yes it is. I care for Vanessa, but my heart was never truly in it. There was only one girl for me. And now she's gone." Joe could see that Frank was taken back by Joe's admission. While he had spoken the truth, he wasn't ready for the consequences of it yet. He struggled to his feet. "I'm gonna head to bed. Night, Frank."

He could feel his brother's eyes boring into him. But he didn't turn around. He just wanted to get to bed and sleep off this depression that had suddenly washed over him. Once in his room he closed the door and gently stripped for bed. Gingerly, he crawled into bed and tried to block out all the thoughts that tumbled through his mind.

Vanessa was a fresh pain. He had hurt her terribly, but he knew that he had to let her go. He loved her the best he could, but he thought she could do better. She thought that he was enough for her. She had argued that she understood his ways. She _knew_ he was a flirt. It came with the territory. She _knew_ about his past with Iola. She _said_ she was okay with it. But Joe wasn't sure, not really about Vanessa, but about himself.

Joe thought a lot about Iola still. He was better a hiding it, and he knew he should let it go. But when he closed his eyes he would see her pixie face. He could still smell the strawberry of her shampoo.

Joe beat his pillow a few times and tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in. After a little tossing and turning, Joe fell asleep to dreams of a lost love.

HBHBHBHB

Frank watched his brother quietly go to bed. He noticed that Joe never even turned on the light. He was worried. He knew that Joe had just let him see a glimpse into himself that very few saw. And in a way it scared him. To see Joe, apparently still pining after Iola _four years_ after her death, was a little disturbing. Joe should have moved on by now. But if Joe really believed that Iola was his one true love, it would be pretty hard. Frank didn't really know what to think about all of this, but he vowed to get to the bottom of it during this week together.

Frank cleaned up their mugs and put out the fire. He worked slowly, wondering if Joe had fallen asleep yet. He was tempted to go in and talk with his brother now. He held off. Maybe now wasn't the best time.

When Frank finally climbed into bed, he had a hard time falling asleep.


	12. Chap 3, Bit 1

A/N So sorry! I really am. Between the holidays and craziness of my home life, finding writing time was getting a little hard. Then I had the issue of this bit. I had to rewrite it three times. Why? Because twice I didn't like the way it was flowing. Then I finally had something going and my PC locked up on me. Now normally that wouldn't be a problem. I can just recover what I had lost. I did that, and then before I could save it, my PC locked up again! So I started from scratch. I'm still not happy with it, but I can edit when I go to post this as a real fully edited story at the chapter breaks.  Now I can't seem to post this on the night I want to.

A/N Woe is me. My Beta, Cairisrin, is working twelve plus hours until inventory time is over. I have no one to do comma patrol! So, I have done all the editing. If there are any mistakes they are mine and I apologize. And I will do a shameless plug for you to go and read Enemy of the State! It's Cairisrin's experiment story. Quite excellent! I love the twist and turns.

Okay, so I had a long authors note. Now on with the show…

HBHBHBHBHBHBHBHBHB

Joe opened his eyes, wondering what had woken him. His room was pitch black except for the red glow of the alarm clock. There was an eerie silence blanketing the cabin. Joe listened hard, still trying to find the noise that had awoken him. Then he realized what it was. This almost deafening silence was what woke him.

When he had gone to bed there was a snowstorm raging outside. While snow itself is quiet, the wind wiping through the trees and battering against the cabin was anything but. _The storm must finally be over_.

Joe closed his eyes again. He had identified what had taken him from his sleep, and now hoped to return. After a few minutes of lying perfectly still, willing himself to sleep, he opened his eyes again. _Maybe, rolling over? _Joe rolled over, trying to find a comfortable position. Then he made the mistake of glancing at the clock. It read five seventeen a.m. _Damn!_ He squeezed his eyes shut. Shaking his head a few times he rolled over to his other side.

His eyes opened of their own accord. He lay, staring into the blackness of the room. It didn't take long for his thoughts to wander to the conversation of the night before. He was a little frustrated with himself for admitting some things to Frank, but in a way he felt a better about it. Now that part of the secret was 'out of the bag' he felt a little lighter and a little less lonely.

This vacation with Frank was a great thing. They had spent so much time apart the last few years, that it was nice to reconnect, to share some of his hidden fears. He vowed that the rest of the vacation would be more time to reconnect with his brother. He wanted to know a few of Frank's hidden fears as well.

With and audible sigh, Joe rolled over to look at the clock again. He was a little shocked to see that now it read five forty three. He had spent almost a half an hour lost in his thoughts. _Maybe I can go back to sleep._ But he knew that he was just trying to convince himself. There would be no more sleep for him today.

With a moments preparation he sat up in bed. He was grateful that there was no wave of dizziness, and only a slight discomfort from the scab on the back of his head. He threw back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He gingerly rotated his injured ankle a few times. His faced scrunched with the pain of the stiffness. He set to work tracing out the whole alphabet with his toes, to help return the range of motion in the ankle.

After that was done, he gently stood up and tested putting weight on it. _So far, so good._ He took a few steps in a circle near the bed. When it seemed like the residual pain was all that he would have to deal with, he turned on the bedside lamp and judged the space around the bed. _Seems to be enough._

Joe did a few cursory stretches and then proceeded to do a morning work out. When he was done, he grabbed some fresh clothes and quietly opened his door. Peering out he noticed that the door to Frank's room was open. Stealthily, he snuck into the bathroom and placed his clothes on the counter, then he creped to Frank's door and eased it closed.

Once he was back into the bathroom, he took a nice, long, hot shower. Letting the heat ease some of the tension he was holding onto. While the talk had been good last night, Joe decided he didn't want to reveal too much to Frank. He didn't want to let on how much Iola's death had affected him. He imagined the water washing it all away. When he felt that he had sufficiently locked those emotions away, he turned his thoughts on the mystery of his brother.

It was with a smile, that Joe emerged from the bathroom. He had a plan to do some truth digging into what Frank had been doing while he was at Stanford.


	13. Chap 3, bit 2

A/N Sorry its so short guys. Its been a very long day. But I really wanted to get at least something out today. And that is what this whole experiment is about right?

Frank awoke to the smell of bacon, once again. Opening his eyes, he noticed that it was still dark outside. Turning his head he looked at the clock. _Well, at least it's after seven this time._ Frank got out of bed and did a few light stretches to relieve his aching muscles. Turning on his bedside lamp he found his robe and headed out towards the smell of the bacon.

"Morning!" Joe's smiling eyes greeted him warmly. At Frank's questioning look he shrugged his shoulders, "I woke up early again."

"Ah," was Frank's only reply as he made his way into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Breakfast will be ready in about 10 minutes if you want to grab a fast shower." Frank nodded his head as he shuffled towards the bathroom.

It wasn't until he was in the shower that he realized he had only seen Joe cooking bacon, and there didn't seem to be any evidence of other food. Frank turned the water a little cooler to try and wake himself up faster. He seemed to be a little out of it this morning.

It was no wonder as to why he was tired. Between the raging storm and his thoughts circling around Joe, he had a terrible time falling asleep. After a couple of minutes under the spray Frank felt more awake and ready to tackle his brother cheery disposition.

_Why is he so cheery this morning?_ Frank sometimes had a hard time dealing with his brother's mood swings. Joe shifted fast and often without much of a warning, though Frank was getting better at realizing the signs of one coming. If he had been more awake he would have realized that last night's conversation, while it was enlightening, was not something that Joe would have normally let slip. _So it's to be forgotten for now. I can do that baby brother, but only for so long. You_ will _explain things more to me. _

Frank heard Joe shouting that breakfast was almost ready. He hurried and got dressed. Tossing his nightclothes on to his bed, he headed out to the kitchen. He sat down just as Joe was pulling something from the oven.

Frank surveyed the table, there was a plate of bacon, glasses with orange juice and Joe was setting down something that looked like it was made mostly of eggs. "What is this?"

Joe's smiled threatened to split his face. "This," he paused for dramatic effect. "Is something that I learned from Mary. Or was it Christy? Sandy?" He shook his head. "Anyway, I learned it from a girl friend. I supposed it's some kind of quiche. Basically its just eggs, milk, butter, apples, and cinnamon sugar. Very yummy!"

Frank looked a little doubtful at Joe, but trusted his brother anyway. After his first tentative bit his eyes grew wide. "It doesn't really taste like eggs."

"Told ya, you'd like it."

They eat in silence for a little while. "So," Frank finally broke the silence. "How are you feeling today?"

"Pretty good. Ankles still a bit stiff. My head hurts a little, but it's more annoying than anything. And it's already starting to itch."

"That's good. You should be better in no time." They lapsed back into silence again. Frank helped himself to a second serving of the sweet egg concoction. Joe polished it off. In the end there was only bacon left sitting on the table.

Joe sat back with a content smile. "So, I was thinking about sending Mom and Aunt G a video message this morning. That way they can both see and hear us."

"But what about your head?" Frank had a doubtful look on his face.

"That one's easy." Replied Joe. "We film it outside. Show them the winter wonderland it is out there. Knowing them they have been watching the weather reports for the aream, so they will know that we had a storm last night. It's nice and cold outside, a good reason to wear ski hats."

Frank returned Joe's sly smile. "I like the way you think, brother."


	14. Chap 3, bit 3

A/N I don't have much of an excuse. But I will say that I am getting a free week of internet.

"Hi, mom." Frank looked up from where he was discreetly making a snowball. He watched as Joe first looked directly into the camera of the phone, and then directed the camera lens towards the area around him. "We wanted to show you our winter wonderland." The brothers had spent the last hour planning what was going into the message for their mother and aunt. The Boys knew it was going to be under heavy scrutiny so they were trying to plan for everything.

Frank smiled and waved at the camera when Joe turned it towards him. Then he threw the snowball at his brother's stomach. At his brother's indignant yell, he ducked behind the SUV. As he was hiding behind it he noticed that the SUV seemed to be leaning towards him. With a frown on his face he moved to the front tire and dug around it some. Pushing on it he could tell that it was defiantly flat. Turning behind him, he dug out the rear tired enough to check it as well. Sure enough it was flat as well. Frank sat back on his heals contemplating. While one flat tire was a little suspicious, two defiantly was.

Hearing Joe yell for him, he remembered that they were putting on a bit of a show for mom. He shook his head once and then plastered on a smile. He would have to deal with this little mystery later on.

Frank steeled himself for the cold that he knew was coming and peaked around the car. True to his baseballer's aim Joe hit him square in the face. "Joe!" He yelled, spitting out snow. Then he made to get up and tackle his brother. He heard his brother laughing and telling his mom that he had to go to save the phone. Frank stopped next to him as he hit the send button.

"That was not nice to hit me in the face!" Frank glared at his brother.

Joe's head tilted back as he roared with laughter. "True, but this way it's even more believable."

Frank rolled his eyes, while that may have been true, it didn't mean that he had to like it.

"What took you so long anyway?"

Frank's smile immediately dropped. "Seems that there are two flat tires on the SUV."

"Really? That seems a little strange."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go and check it out." Frank spun around and headed back to the flat tires. He felt, rather than saw, Joe move to follow. Frank was quickly at the first tire he had discovered. After a few minutes of digging he had the whole tired uncovered. He could clearly see what had caused the flat. Down towards the bottom was a large slash through the tire.

"Joe?" He called out. At the answering huff he continued, "This tire has been slashed."

After a few moments Joe came around the vehicle. "So is the other front tire. What do you wanna bet they all are?"

"Well, what are we going to do about it? Who would do this? Hardly anyone knew we were out here." Frank was thinking out loud.

"_Why_ would they do this, is more like it."

Frank looked at Joe to see a dark scowl across his face. "Who do you think did this?"

Frank watched as Joe opened and closed his mouth a few times. "I just think, well, that there is something a little off about that ranger yesterday."

Frank started, "Ranger Todd?" He couldn't believe what Joe was saying. "Joe, you have jumped to the wrong conclusion to early in the game."

Frank watched as Joe looked at his feet. _Maybe I shouldn't have jumped on him so hard. It did seem like he was unsure of saying that. But it can't be true. There are plenty of other people out here that we know of, and there could be others as well._

Joe slowly straightened up. With a slight shrug of his shoulders he said, "I'm just saying that the timing does seem to fit. That storm hit about a half an hour after he left last night, and unless someone else trekked all the way out here, he would have been the only one that would have had the time before getting caught in the storm."

Frank watched as Joe turned to go. It was true. The timing did fit, but there had a few hours that morning after the storm that someone could have come by. "Joe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to jump down your throat but I think we should keep our options open for now."

Joe didn't even turn to look at him. "Yeah, okay. I'm a little tired. Think I'm gonna go take some Tylenol and go lay down for a little while."

_Way to go _Frank_! You know that Joe does have good instincts. Why did I fly at him like that? Just because the man was nice and sincere? Or because I really don't want to be dealing with a mystery this week, because it would prove dad right._


	15. Chap 3,bit 4

Joe slowly walked back to the cabin. He wasn't really mad at Frank, just more disappointed. When they were still in High school, Joe might have been more impetuous and made a comment when the ranger was in their cabin. Even if his instincts were on, his mouth had a way of getting things out of hand and showing their cards way to early. Which would allow the bad guys to either lay traps or get away.

The years since had tempered his rash words and actions. The problem was that Frank hadn't been around to see the change in the way Joe fought crime. Frank didn't realize that Joe had held in his thoughts, waiting for more logical evidence to prove his gut instincts.

Right now his gut was telling him that there was something up with the ranger and it might be a good idea to find out what he was up too. What was it that was sending Joe's 'spidey senses' in to overdrive?

Joe brushed his longer bangs from his face as a wind blew across him. Squinting he looked up at the clear blue sky. It was still early in the day, but the sun seemed to be working overtime to warm things up after last night's snowstorm.

Sighing Joe dropped his head into his chest. "Of course the great weather would happen when I'm on the injured list." Rolling his eyes he headed back in to the cabin.

He wasn't lying when he said he was a little tired. But it was mostly a bone-weariness. He was tired of acting like everything was okay. He as tired of pretending that he didn't hurt, both physically and emotionally.


	16. Chap 3, bit 4

Joe flopped head first onto the bed, clothes still on and his feet hanging off at the ankles. When he didn't have any breath left he picked up his head and turned to face the window. Staring out over the trees he looked towards to clear blue sky.

He felt himself getting drowsy. Then he remembered that he had left to door to his room opened. He thought for a moment about getting up and closing the door and actually getting under the covers, but then the sunlight patch on the bed started moving over him and he was content to lie in the warmth it provided. Moments later Joe was lulled into a light sleep.

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After inspecting all four tires thoroughly and looking in the edge for the forest around them for tracks, Frank trudged back into the cabin. He was tired, worried and perplexed. He was grateful when he was able take off his gloves and shoes and just sit on the couch. Looking down the hallway he noticed Joe's door was still open. That _meant_ something. He wasn't quiet sure if it was just that Joe was that tired, but he was hoping that it meant that Joe wasn't that angry with him.

He shook his head to try and not think about it for the moment. He knew that he would have to make it up to Joe, give a piece offering of sorts. He was just worried that it might get him into more trouble than it was worth.


	17. Chap 4, bit 1

Joe slowly came back to consciousness. His whole body felt heavy, but he felt well rested. After a moment of coaxing his muscle to work again he was able to roll over. He noticed that at some point Frank had come in and covered him with a blanket. He smiled at the peace offering. Then he glanced at the clock and realized it was already past one in the afternoon. With a mighty stretch and a jaw-popping yawn he moved into the living room area to find Frank.

"Hey, Frank. Thanks for the." Joe dead stopped, in the middle of the hallway. His smiling expression changed immediately to one of anger.

Frank looked up at Joe from his position on the floor, between the couch and the coffee table. In front of him sat his laptop. "Joe, I can explain!"

"You don't have too. I knew it was too much to ask to have a weekend free of everything else. I should have known that you couldn't let go. You have to have contact in some form or another. I guess I was just hoping that the satellite phone would have been enough." Joe's face dropped in defeat and he turned to go back into the bedroom.

Frank scrabbled to get out from under the table. "No, Joe." When Joe moved to close the door he yelled, "I only brought it for emergencies. This is the first time I brought it out. And I have been using it to look into our mysterious Ranger." That last came out almost as a question, to see if Joe would take it as the peace offering he meant it to be, even if it had gone against the rules.

Joe stopped and closed his eyes. He _knew_ it really was too much to have asked Frank to leave his technology behind. Just like it was almost _too_ much to expect that Frank would trust Joe's instincts. He knew that Frank never lied. If Frank said it was only for emergencies then that was the only reason that he brought it. And of course following Frank's logic they always get into trouble. _Always._

"I'm sorry Frank." He turned around and looked at Frank conveying a myriad of emotions through his eyes. Silent apologies and acceptance ran between both brothers. Joe stepped towards Frank. "So, what have you found out?"

Frank tentatively smiled and returned to his position on the floor. "Well, so far I haven't really found out much, just the typical stuff. Where he went to school. Where he got his training. One speeding ticket five years ago. Nothing really of interest."

"Um," Was Joe's only response as he sat down on the couch behind Frank. "So, does it seem too perfect?"

Frank thought about it for a few moments. He even clicked through a few web pages he had saved, while he thought about. Joe briefly wondered about the internet connect and then noticed the satellite phone next to the laptop.

"No, not really. He grew up near here. I can get all of his school records and even stuff about his family. But every thing seems to be in order." Frank searched a few more minutes and then was even able to produce a picture of the Ranger with his high school prom date.

"So," Joe started. "Either my instincts are totally off, or this is something new in his life and he hasn't gotten caught at it yet."

"Well, I would have to say, given the tire discovery and the timing, it will have to be the latter."

Joe gave Frank's shoulder a squeeze; he knew it was the best he was going to get about Frank believing his instincts, for the moment.

"So it becomes finding out what is going on in his life or out here." Suddenly Joe's eyes grew wide as his hungry stomach let itself known, rather loudly.

Frank's head whipped around to face his brother, then, they both burst out laughing. Frank glanced at the clock, "I have to agree with your stomachs proclamation. It is almost two in the afternoon and way past lunchtime. Lets break, eat and then we can get started again later?"

Joe enthusiastically nodded his agreement.


	18. Chap 4, bit 2

A/N: So, I hope that I can get more of this out. I know this one isn't near what I wanted to write tonight, but I am yawning so hard my eyes are watering. So, you'll have to wait for more until tomorrow. 

HBHBHBHBHBHBHB

The Frank quickly whipped up a box of Mac 'n' cheese, while Joe made use of the left over bacon, for BLTs. Frank watched Joe look longingly outside and suggested that they eat their lunch on the front porch. He was happy when Joe added that they could get some work done while eating.

A few minutes later both boys were carrying plates with sandwiches and bowls that were filled with noodles. Frank also grabbed his laptop on the way outside.

Once he was settled Frank started. "Okay, so. What do we know?" He looked up to see Joe shoveling a large spoonful of noodles into his mouth. He sighed inwardly at Joe's feigned innocent look. Frank set his own plate and bowl aside, and opened his laptop. He opened a notepad and was poised to take notes. "First, We have had our tires slashed."

"That's it." Joe said around a mouth still full of food. Frank watched him hurry and chew to finish his thought. "That's all we have for tangible evidence. The rest is just feelings, and some gut instinct."

Frank nodded his agreement. "Okay, so tell me what it was that set you off."

Frank watched as Joe set down the sandwich he had just picked up. "Mostly, is was just feeling. Something about the way he moved seemed familiar, and not in a good way. And as I was watching him there was something about the way his eyes gleamed when I told him that I was Mike's roommate. There was something about they way he looked around this place too. It was like he was taking it all in, almost in amusement." Joe looked puzzled, lost in his own thoughts. Frank knew he was trying to recall that had happened the previous night.

"Okay, so we have a ranger that seems a little off. Did it seem like he was casing the place?" Frank questioned as he continued to type out notes.

"No," Joe paused. "It was more like he was amused at where things had been place. Does that make sense?"

"I think it makes sense, but we don't have all the clues to know why yet." Frank pulled out the phone again and set everything up to get back online. "Let's see if anything has been reported in the area."

Frank absently munched on his sandwich as he searched through news reports of the area. There was the odd burglary, but most of the thieves hade been caught. There was a lost hiker that had been found after three days. The most interesting thing that was going on in the area was the weird lights.


	19. Chap 4, bit 3

A/N I know. Its' another really short bit, but at least I got something out today. This scene is really giving me a hard time. There are a few things that I want to have happen. But Frank and Joe are not cooperating at all!

On a side note if anyone still reading this has read any of my story Of Ghouls, Thieves and Baseball I am working on the next chapter and I hope that have that up soon. 

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Frank was almost completely lost in the research when he noticed a hand sneaking towards the second half of his sandwich. "Joe." He stated threateningly.

"What? Its not like you are eating it."

"I'm just taking my time. I don't inhale my food like you. I like to enjoy the tastes and flavors." Frank finally looked up from the laptop and grabbed his noodles.

"Bull! You have been lost in your research for the last half hour." Joe told Frank with a huff.

"I have not." Frank said indignantly. Then, with great flourish, he took a large bite and was immediately repulsed by the almost freezing cold noodles. He almost spit them out but one look at Joe's laughing eyes made him determined to at least swallow.

With one last grimace Frank forced down the last of the noodles in his mouth and immediately sought out his drink. After a few chugs of his soda Frank's eyes were watering. Then he tried to save face. "Its not really that bad." But he couldn't even keep a straight face and almost choked at the thought of having to take another bite.

"Ha,ha. See I told you. You should have eaten those first and then you could have leisurely worked on the sandwich. Its not like getting cold will harm it any."

Frank took one more decisive swig from his soda and then tackled his BLT. He knew he was still hungry and just needed to get the remainder of the cold Mac and cheese flavor out of his mouth.

After he got a few bites in Joe pondered the question, "So, you find anything interesting in all that research?"


	20. chap 4, bit 4

A/N I'm BAAAAACK! Hehe. I'm hoping to be back on track and able to write. Sorry it has been so long.

Frank pulled up a few web pages and then handed the laptop off to his brother. Joe took a few moments and skimmed through the pages his brother had marked for him.

With a frown on his face he looked over to Frank. "So, basically, there isn't anything that's been reported." Frank shook his head. "So, what had you so interested that you forgot about your food then?"

Frank rolled his eyes, "I was looking into the 'lights'. There were quiet a few articles written on them in various places. Different theories on what they could be. From fanatic alien sightings, to conspiracy theories about the government covering up military testing."

"We are in the area everyone seems to think that they originate from, right?" questioned Joe.

"Yeah, we are. Haven't seen any though. Basically we are at a dead end. There is nothing on our mysterious Ranger, and we might have added the mystery of the lights to our little trip."

"Man, Dad would so kill us!"

"You do _realize_ that dad already knows about most of this. And after talking with him last night, I don't think he is as in the dark about our lives as we would like him to be."

Joe snorted, "You probably right about that." Joe handed the computer back to Frank. "So where does that leave us? What do we do now?"

Frank started to pack up the laptop and satellite phone. "I'm not sure, we need to come up with another idea on how to get some information."

Joe snatched the phone away from Frank. "I have an idea."

Frank watched a little perplexed as Joe slowly stood up and walked to the edge of the porch, obviously dialing someone. Frank wondered what Joe was doing, but knew that he would have to wait for Joe to implement his big plan to understand what was going on in his brother's head.


	21. Chap 4, bit 5

A/N I just wanted to post something. There is a party going on at my house right now, and I have had a long few days. I want to go to sleep…

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Joe walked over to the edge of the porch. He absently noticed the pile of slush at the foot of the stairs as he waited for some to pick up. After a few rings it was answered by a breathless sounding voice.

"Clark County Ranger Station Number 5. This is Ranger Williamson."

"Hi, Ranger Williamson. I was calling to see if Ranger Anderson was there?"

"Ah, I'm sorry son," the definably older voice answered him. "He is out on patrol right now. Is there a message you would like me to give him?"

Joe's eyes lit up with excitement. He was ignoring Frank's queering looks and gestures. "Yes, there is. This is Joe Hardy, I'm staying with my brother up at the Mitchell Cabin." Joe ended his statement with a questioning tone.

"I know the place, nice family."

"Yeah, Jonas has been my roommate at college for the last two years. Met his parents a few times. Mrs. Mitchell makes an amazing Beef Stroganoff."

The ranger laughed a little. "I have been known to have a chicken leg or two when Henry Mitchell is Barbequing. I have to admit that I was hoping for a little this spring, but I guess the weather has kept them away?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Mitchell booked them all a cruise in the Caribbean instead. She said she just had a feeling that is would be a lot warmer that way and she was craving the heat."

"Ah, yes. She is such a lovely woman, but a little too skinny for all of her wonderful cooking." Joe could hear the smile in his voice. "But, I am sorry. We have totally gotten off track. You wanted to leave a message for Ranger Anderson?"

"Oh, yes." Joe feigned a little surprise at his forgetfulness. "I really just wanted to thank him for coming over yesterday. He didn't really need to. And I wanted to apologize. I think that I might have come off a little gruff with him."

"Oh, that's right, he told me that there were some boys staying up there and that he had gone to check on one of them yesterday. He said something about you falling and hitting your head kind of bad?"

"Yeah, I wasn't paying as much attention to where I was going as I should have been and stepped right into a fox hole. Down I went, gave my brother a bit of a scare. Hit my head on a rock and twisted my ankle some."

"Ah, how are you feeling today?"

"Doing pretty good, the ankle isn't throbbing nearly as much. And my head still stings, but it wasn't really that bad. And my brother would tell you about what a hard head I have."

The ranger laughed along with Joe. "Ya, Brothers can be truly sympathetic sometimes."

Joe knew this guy must have had a brother from the sarcastic tone, and from his general observations only an older brother could have caused that much love. "You sound like you might have a similar affliction, sir?"

"You might say so. I have three older brothers. And don't call me sir. Daniel or Williamson is just fine."

"Okay, Mr. Williamson."

Joe heard the sigh followed by a chuckle. "Well, Joe. What is your message for Ranger Todd?"


	22. Chap 4, bit 6

"Oh, well. It's kinda silly really. I was just… I mean, I was…well" Joe let a frustrated huff escape from his lips. He also had to turn completely around so he couldn't see Frank, who was laughing as quietly as he could at Joe's performance. "I might have been rude. I didn't want to leave that impression on him. He seemed like such a nice guy, to come all they way out, just to check on me."

"I understand." Joe swore he heard a chuckle from the older ranger. "You would like me to pass on to Todd that is was well appreciated that he was able to take some time to go and check on you."

"Ya, and I don't want him to think that I'm that grumpy and hostile all the time. He really seemed like such a nice guy."

"Don't worry kid. I'm sure he knew that it was mostly the head wound talking. He's found many an injured hiker up in these parts and always handles them with grace. It's how he's always been."

"Well that's a little more comforting. You sound like you've know him for a long time?"

"Oh yes. Todd has been coming seriously around these parts since he was in high school. I'm sure as a family growing up they did a lot of camping and what not in these parts. But, I guess he was around a senior in high school when he started coming around the ranger stations and asking questions. He told me just before he graduated that this is what he wanted to do with his life. I was so impressed with someone so young knowing without a doubt what they wanted to do with their life."

Joe nodded his head. "Yeah, it is pretty unusual to find that."

"Well, he went off to college, I forget where. He said that he had done his studies and everything else in another forest but it didn't feel like home. So as soon as there was an opening here he applied and asked to use me as a reference. The funny part was we ended up being partners. Been that way for the last five years or so. We work well together."

"That's good. It's always nice to find a good partner to work with." Joe did turn around and stick his tongue out at Frank in a very childish gesture and then almost laughed when Frank feigned a heart wound and fell against the door.

Joe had to refocus in on the conversation fast as Ranger Williamson continued rambling about Ranger Todd. "He is a nice guy to work with, if only a little lonely. He needs to find himself a good girl and settle down. Like me, my wife and I have been together for fifteen years now. What about you Joe, any girls hanging on your arm?"

"At the moment I would have to say no, sir. But my brother would say that I always have one or _five_ waiting in the wings."

"A bit of a ladies man, are ya?"

"I can be," was Joe's noncommittal response.

"Todd used to be. He was always running home on our days off with plans with this girl or that one. Then he met Ansuya. He was totally enthralled with her. They were even engaged."

"What happened?" Joe was truly curious and her name seemed to spark something in his memory.

"She had gone on some school trip to the Middle East and some terrible things happened. Todd took a couple months off and went over seas to her. He didn't talk about it much, but there was a funeral."

Joe was in a stunned silence. He truly felt for the man.

"He just hasn't been the same since. Doesn't even want to react to the ladies that flirt with him."

Joe closed his eyes, it seemed that a lot of things were coming full circle for him lately. "It can be really hard to lose someone you love. Terrible accidents make it even worse."

"Now you sound like the one that is speaking from experience, son." Williamson's voice had a soft caring tone.

Joe once again turned from Frank's point of view. He didn't want Frank to see how much this conversation had suddenly affected him. "I am." It was time for this to end. "I am sorry to have taken up so much of your time. I should be going."

"No problem, Joe. It's nice to talk with people on subjects other than work. I am sorry that I seemed to have gossiped too much. I hope you are back to one hundred percent soon."

"Thank you, sir...Daniel. And thank you for relaying that message to Ranger Anderson. I really appreciate it."

"Have a good rest of the day. I will advise that you and your brother stay indoors for the rest of it though. While it seems nice now, there is a massive storm front moving in and should hit in the next few hours."

"Will do. Thanks for the warning. Goodbye." Joe finally hung up on the conversation and took a few moments to shake off the residual feelings. When he was ready, he turned back to Frank's questioning look. "He said that we should stay near the cabin for the rest of the day. There is a massive storm front moving in fairly fast."

"Are you going to tell me what that conversation was really about?"

Joe studied Frank for a few moments. "Nah, I decided that I want some hot chocolate now." Then he moved past Frank to enter the cabin.


	23. Chap 4, bit 7

A/N Hey, guys! I gave up waiting here. So I am going to post when ever I can' get to a PC that I can write on and has internet connection. So Its all going to be on the fly and not edited very well. Sorry. :( But at least I'm writing!

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Frank stood for a moment staring at the door after it had closed behind Joe, his mouth hanging open. "Joe!" Frank stormed in allowing the door to bang open.

"Yes, Frank?" Joe questioned innocently, looking up from placing the water on the stovetop. Frank wanted to smack the smirk off of his brother's face, but knew the best way to get Joe to say anything was to play along and play ignorant.

"I just wanted to make sure you knew to put double the chocolate for me. I think I am going to need the sugar rush to continue me search." Frank almost chuckled as disappointment crossed Joe's face. Turning so his childish acting brother couldn't see, Frank headed back out onto the porch to pick up the rest of the dishes and also the laptop and phone.

Once inside he first deposited the dishes in front of Joe and then went and sat down on the couch, once again setting up the laptop and satellite phone. Frank busied him self getting everything set up and running, but couldn't help sneaking glances at Joe. Joe was about ready to burst with information but wanted Frank to ask. This was an old game between the brothers, to see who was the most stubborn. It was one that Frank was determined to win.

Soon enough Joe was setting down a large mug of steaming hot chocolate next to Frank's arm, just close enough that frank could feel the heat radiating off of it. "Mmmmm, thanks." Frank took a tentative sip as he pretended to be reading hard on an article he had found.

Frank smiled into his cup as Joe fidgeted next to him. "So, find anything interesting?"

"Naw, not really." Frank feigned indifference. "Just reading some crazy blogger's theory on the weird lights."

"Ah, more X-files theories?"

"Conspiracy with the military. He is likening them to the lights seen in Arizona over the last few years. Says that they resemble the 'missile' testing. Even has a few pics to do some comparison."

"What do you think?" Joe had leaned back and was closing his eyes, he looked about ready to fall asleep once again. Frank started to doubt the game. Joe had been knocked unconscious for a few minutes. Maybe his head was hurting more than he was letting on.

Frank snorted to him self. Of course Joe was hurting more than he let on, it's what Joe did. He must have been thinking to long because Joe's eyes opened, a question shining in them.

Frank shook away his thoughts. "Ah, well the pictures do look very similar. But I can't find reference to any military bases near by."

"Doesn't mean it was a mobile unit." Joe had closed his eyes again.

"True." Frank once again studied Joe. He was a bit pale, and now that he was really looking he didn't seem to be as stocky as he used to be. Joe had lost some muscle mass. That was a shocking revelation to Frank. "Joe, are you Okay?"

Joe eyed him, "Frank, I'm going to have a scar on the back of my head, forever marring my perfect hair style for my face. Of course I'm not okay. Now, I have to reevaluate hair styles, I might even have to go" he feigned a shudder" brunette. I kind of like being the Blonde one."

This response got a smile from Frank, "No, that's not what I meant. I mean…are you doing okay with life. I guess" Frank frowned, he knew he wasn't wording it correctly but for once he was at a loss for words.

"Ah," Joe leaned forward to set down his mug of still untouched chocolate. "The serious talk. I thought we did this last night?"

"Last night we talked about Iola, and I have heard a little bit about your school life, but nothing really about you."

"But that is all about me. Everything in my life right now centers around those things. Don't you see?" Frank shook his head in response. He had a feeling he was about to get something more that would shock him about his brother.

"My whole life has been about you and dad, the cases we worked on. I loved Iola more than I even knew. My life has moved on, but there are still daily reminders of her. Even today." Joe continued on without even looking at Frank. "Ranger Todd Anderson was engaged once, about 4 years ago. They had met in school. She went over seas for school and he didn't get to bring her home. Ansuya. Very pretty name. A very Middle Eastern name. I think we might have found the connection we were looking for."

There that was it. Frank had won, but it was a sour victory.


	24. chap 5, bit 1

Frank stood for a moment staring at the door after it had closed behind Joe, his mouth hanging open

I really am sorry that this took so long guys. Leaving note in my bio.

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Joe sat staring straight ahead. He could feel Frank's eyes judging him. Analyzing him. He could feel some of his walls were starting to get holes. He knew, before this little spring break trip was over Frank was going to know many of his deep dark secrets. His intuition was telling him that it would be good to tell Frank, and Frank might even understand. But it's still hard to not be able to keep some parts of your self hidden.

From the corner of his eye he could see many thoughts sliding quickly across Frank's face. He watched as his brothers mouth opened a few times in question only to be closed again. Then he saw Frank make a choice.

"How do you know the name is middle eastern and not Japanese, or something?" Frank chose the question that would maximize his answers. _Damn him! _Not that Joe was very surprised. It was very like his brother to probe with the hard questions.

But Joe put on a smirk and told most of the truth, "Because I dated a Belly Dancer."

Frank did the annoying one eye brow raise at him.

He was starting to feel defensive "Well, it's true! We dated for about 2 weeks. Course I really could have let that go on…the moves she could do." He brought up his hands for gesturing.

"Got it!" Frank said hurriedly, "Lets' get back to the case. I don't want to know that much about your love life."

_Score!_ Joe was proud of getting Frank off of his case, even if it was only temporary. "So, I guess we need to do a search and see if we can find anything on this girl. No, I didn't get her last name." Joe cut off Frank's next question.

Joe watched Frank work for a bit, then got bored. Then his eyes lit up as he saw his hot chocolate. Grabbing he took a testing sip and found it to be almost cold. "Bahhh" then he chugged it down. "Well, so much for hot chocolate!" He leaned over and saw that Frank had managed to drink his with out Joe really noticing. So, Joe grabbed the mugs and took them to the sink.

Turning around to lean against the counter he looked around the small cabin. Slowly he started to replay the steps that Ranger Todd took in the cabin. Then before he realized it, Joe was following, literally, in his foot steps. Joe looked around the room trying to judge what it was the Ranger Todd must have seen.

"Joe, why are you so sure that this Ansuya is our missing link?"

Joe answered, with out really thinking about the answers, more focused on trying to look through Todd Anderson's eyes. "Because it all fits. He was a great stand up guy. Then he meets this really great girl, who happens to disappear somewhere in the Middle East. Todd is gone for a month looking for her, and then comes back changed."

"But couldn't he just be changed because the woman he was going to marry was probably killed?" Joe could tell Frank was now watching him.

"Yeah, but more than likely, I bet he found her. Or found what had happened to her. He was converted to something either for love, or revenge of love." Joe found him self staring curiously at the photos along the wall. He was seeing something.

Then he heard a large sigh from Frank. "Joe, are you saying that you think he has fallen in with the Assassins'? Are you trying to say that this is you big connection with Iola again?"

Joe paused for a moment staring at two pictures. Then, he closed his eyes in frustration. Turning around to face Frank in anger once again that day, "No, Frank. I am saying that the odds at a little staggering, even for us. I didn't mention the assassin's. You did. There are a ton of other affiliations out there that he could be apart of. Don't bring Iola up again, Frank. Not with this. It just rings to close right now. And I was only saying a train of thought, when you were at a dead end." With that Joe turned back around to the pictures. His eyes had caught something.

"Joe, you can't ignore this. We will have to talk about this. If you have been fixated on Iola's death that much then maybe mom and dad are right to worry about you!"

Joe clenched his jaw in frustration. Frank had hit right on the money, but he wasn't ready to admit it yet. Instead he focused harder on the pictures.


	25. Chap 5, bit 2

Wow the bits in one week! Next few days are insane though. Might not be anymore until the weekend.

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"Joe, are you even listening to me? Or are you being childish and just ignoring me?" Joe could hear the demand in Frank's voice and knew he had to answer.

"I'm ignoring you in favor of noticing that we have a case and that every picture on this wall is no more than 3 years old. And that Jonas told me that the cabin has been in the family since his father was a kid."

Joe waited for that revelation to hit Frank.

"What?" Joe heard him get up from the table and stand next to him. "Your right."

Joe started to look around the room with a critical eye armed with this new knowledge. There was nothing out of the ordinary but nothing seemed loved. Everything seemed fairly new.

Joe looked at Frank with unmasked fear in his eyes. "Frank, someone went to a lot of trouble to get us here."

Frank looked around the room, his face still skeptical. "I don't know Joe, this seems more then a lot of trouble, if they wanted us here. It would have taken years of planning. Your roommate, Jonas, would some how have to be involved. Even the rangers, if we go along with your feelings."

"But Frank, this feel like it's the answer. I'm not sure how, or who is involved, but I know its right!" Joe's mind was reeling. There was so much to consider with this new information. And it added so many new people to the suspect list.

"If there was someone out there wanting us this badly, then we need to figure out who it is. But it seems to elaborate to be one person Joe." Frank was still doubt full. Joe was relieved that even though Frank was voicing a devils advocate he was still moving back to his laptop to work on the problem.

"I don't want to say it but," Joe paused. Taking a deep breath, not sure if he was ready for Frank's response, "Could it be the assassin's?" "Joe tried to judge Frank's carefully schooled face. "They are the only ones with the means to pull this off."

"But do they really have the motive?"

"We have been a thorn in their side since we were teens, Frank. They have tried to kill us numerous times."

"That's just it though. They usually wait until they find out we are involved, and then they try to blow us up, or shoot us. They have never come after us and this is…well. It's almost over whelming."

"But, if its' not them who could it be. Someone we don't know after Dad? Maybe we should call dad and see if he has had any threats?"

Joe watched as Frank took a deep breath. "Maybe we are reading too much into this Joe. Maybe they only keep a few things here at a time, because of the break-ins'. Maybe, they change the pictures often, for the same reason, so they don't lose too much stuff."

Joe had to concede that Frank's theory could be right.

Then Frank surprised him. "There isn't a reason that we can't check out all leads, though. That means that before we call dad we need to check into your roommate and his family, and I think we need to make a suspect list, with everyone on it. I'm not saying I agree with you, little brother, but I think it's been a little unusual around here and we should check all possibilities."

Joe smiled at that. So they had a plan to work on and it was going to take them into a good chunk into the night to see it through.


	26. Chap 5, bit 3

HBHBHBHBHBHBHBHB

A few hours later Frank and Joe were bundled up tight and the heater on full blast as they searched through data they had collected. Frank shivered involuntarily as the wind howled outside. The storm that Joe had mentioned had hit with startling force.

"This storm could cause us some major problems." Frank could hear the worry in Joe's voice. Funny, how that now he was paying more attention to his brother he saw the subtle changes. He noticed that Joe's fierce loyalties ran a bit more protective but also quieter and more reserved. The largest change was Joe's impetuousness had morphed into something more mature. It was hard to describe, but was defiantly visible to the ones that had known him well.

"I have a feeling its' going to be pretty nasty before the night is out. We are in prime conditions for an ice storm." Frank couldn't help but laugh as Joe rolled his eyes. They were not strangers to ice storms. And in a weird way they were lucky that they weren't in the city. It just meant that getting out of the cabin was going to get tricky.

"Do you think we need to worry about the water pipes?" Frank could tell that Joe was getting antsy and needed to do something.

"I'm sure the pipes are well insulated, but you could do a quick check around the cabin to see if everything is sealed." Frank smiled at Joe's gratitude. He watched Joe for a minute in the kitchen then looked back down at his list.

Together they had spent the last few hours searched the internet on anything they could find that remotely dealt with their suspect list. Joe had mentioned the storm and they saved as much as they could. Once the storm rolled in they were stuck looking only through the information they had saved and connecting the dots out loud.

Frank knew that the top of Joe's list was the Assassin's. And Frank did grudgingly agree that they would be the ones best suited to pulling something like this off. But he didn't want to cross anyone else off the list in favor of an old enemy. And that was another key point. Neither of the brothers had heard anything from the Assassin's in a couple years.

Next on the list, was Ranger Anderson and his odd behavior. They didn't have much else to go on. Joe had argued to add on the other ranger as well. Since he claimed to have known the Mitchell's for a long time.

That leads to the Mitchell's, as a family. Not really sure if they should add them all or not, the brothers put them all on the list just incase. Frank argued with Joe that it could just be his roommate and the parents wouldn't be involved, and that would also mostly absolve Ranger Williamson.

Frank sat back to thinking about other possibilities. He absentmindedly watched as Joe started a fire. He stared into the flames thinking about all that had gone on. Was this really a trap for them? Was this an elaborate trap just to get them? Frank could almost believe that some of it had to do with them, but it couldn't all be for just them. There had to be something else.

Frank continued to stare into the flames and flashes came before his eyes. _A roaring fire. Tackling his brother to save him from him self. Having to hold onto his brother while screams of terror and defiance ripped from Joe's chest._ Frank closed his eyes, his jaw clenching. His memories of the day Iola died where hard for him to bear. He had vowed to never see his brother like that again.

Frank shook his head. He didn't need to be thinking these thoughts. If Joe was having a hard time dealing then he better be the strong one. Frank sat up to get his mind back on work when all the power suddenly went out.

He could see Joe still sitting in front of the fire. "Well," Joe laughed. "Guess I started that right on time."


	27. Chap 5, bit 4

A/N Just a little warning guys. I am going to Vegas next week! I am going to try and get out at least one more bit before I go, but I have been busy with plans and getting everything ready. I should return feeling refreshed and ready to tackle anything. :)

HBHBHBHBHBHB

Frank immediately laughed at Joe's comment. One thing about Joe that had not changed was his optimistic outlook on things. "Well," he started as he got up from the couch. "I'm going to go get some more blankets. With power out, I'm staying near the fire tonight."

"Sounds like a good idea. How much battery do we have on the laptop?"

Frank thought about it for a few minutes. "I did bring the spare battery, and it's still fully charged. And I have the car adaptor. This one has maybe an hour left on it."

"So we can work for a little..bit…" a jaw cracking yawn interrupted Joe. "Sorry, we can work for a little bit longer."

"Actually, I was thinking that we should stop for the night. Its getting pretty late, that storm is going bad, and you should get some sleep." As Joe started to protest Frank held up his hand. "Seriously, you have a head wound and I have been babying you. I'm tired too." Frank caught the pillow that was thrown his way.

"You have not been babying me!" Joe sounded a little indignant.

Frank smiled at him. "Maybe not in the normal sense, But I have been letting you get away with staying up, and pushing yourself. You should be getting lots of rest or at least taking it easy."

"I took a nap today!"

Frank just looked at him. The look that said _one nap when there should have been two, and you shouldn't have been on you foot at all. _Joe opened his mouth to protest and then turned his head.

"Now," Frank started. "Our big issue is going to be dealing with mom."

"Mom?" Joe looked back at him, "Why mom?"

"Well, with the cloud cover, we have no satellite. No satellite means, no phone or internet. So we can't leave her any message of any kind. And with the storm and Aunt Gertrude with her, their fears will be twenty fold." Frank was kicking him self for not thinking of leaving a message earlier, but they had both got so caught up in the investigation.

"Man, this feels like old times." Joes worried face and laughing eyes were infectious. "Mom is so going to kill us."

"I'm more worried about dad. Why does he always have to be right?" Frank couldn't believe that he really was more worried about proving their dad wrong, and he knew that it was just going more towards proving him right.

"Because, you have a 'Father complex'." By now Joe had cuddled in to the couch again, holding another hot coco and looking straight at Frank.

"What do you mean by that?" Frank shut down his laptop and headed towards the linen closet to pull more blankets for the brothers.

Joe set down his finished mug of coco on the side table before starting. "You are always trying to do what you think dad wants you to do and still try to make it look like its' your idea and that you really are happy. Most of the time you do make choices to make you happy, but you hate to go against what you think dad would like."

"Joe, that goes completely against what I just said." Frank threw another blanket at Joe and then settled down on the other couch. He had to admit at least to him self that what Joe was saying had a ring of truth to it and it irritated him.

"Not really. You want to please dad. You know that he would rather we both stay out of the sleuthing business, unless we were always with him. So the fact that we have both been saying that we are done and perusing other interests has kept him happy. Now, we are thousands of miles away from him and he knows that there is more then what we are telling him. There is a mystery here, and it could very well be dangerous to both of us. You don't want to tell him what's really going on here. "

Frank sat and stared at Joe. He didn't know how to respond. It was a more than a little unusual, for Joe to be sprouting such insight. "But," he still didn't want to admit his thoughts out loud; it would mean this was true. "It has always been the case when we are Sleuthing. The whole truth only came out a couple times, and that was usually because our case ended up being connected to Dad's." Frank was starting to wonder why he felt the need to defend against what Joe was saying.

"You just proved my point." Joe sank deeper into the couch, winced momentarily, and the shifted so he was laying more on his side. "You have a fear of disappointing Dad, so you don't want to tell him everything. We are adults now, Frank. To be honest, I think he might even be a little disappointed that we haven't followed in his footsteps." Joe's voice got quieter towards the end and another jaw splitting yawn interrupted anything else he was going to say.

Frank sat quietly, watching his brother fall asleep. The fire casting shadows over Joe's face, showing Frank glimpses of their past and possible future. Frank thought about what Joe had been saying. It was true, but it didn't really change much. He replayed the conversation in his mind. Joe had said everything out of truth, and Frank realized that it wasn't with accusation.

Frank looked back towards his gently snoring brother. Joe looked peaceful. _This is what this vacation was for. To relax and have some bonding time._ _Course, I hadn't thought that the tables would have been turned on me, and I should have. _Frank smiled to him self._ Even with this weird mystery going on, I am glad that we are here little brother. _Frank snuggled down deeper into the couch to watch his brother sleep and make sure the fire stayed stoked for the night, they were going to need the added warmth.


	28. Chap 5, bit 5

Well, this is it. My last little bit until I get back from my vacation. It seemed very hard to write, even though I knew everything that was going to happen in this little scene. Hope you all enjoy, see ya in a week.

HBHBHBHBHBHBHB

Joe awoke hours later, the storm was raging outside, and their fire had almost gone out. He looked over and saw Frank sound asleep on the other couch. He smiled. _At least the mother hen can get some sleep. _

Joe slowly stretched around the arms of the couch. He had gotten quite stiff sleeping in such a cramped space. Then, he stared at the fire again. He knew that it needed to be stoked and another log, at least, added. But he was so warm, and outside of the blankets wasn't as nice.

Joe took a deep sighing breath and heaved him self from the couch. A shiver raced down his spine and he moved fast towards the fire. Once there he took a moment to warm his hands, then he grabbed the poker and moved things around.

Joe tried very hard to keep his mind on the present. He knew that he had a bit of a people pleasing personality, at least when it came to those that he loved. When Iola had died he had shut down. Everyone had worried so much about him.

When he came out of his stupor, enough to realize what he was doing to everyone; he vowed that he wouldn't let them suffer anymore, because of him. So he started judging his reactions and internalizing everything that would remind him of Iola and that horrid day.

Fire was a major down fall. He could easily lose himself deep inside. He thought about how _he_ was the one meant for the bomb. Joes shook him self, time to focus on the nice warm fire and getting back to sleep.

He reached over and grabbed two medium size logs and placed them in the fire place.

Then he stood, stretched and yawned. Rolling his head, he headed towards the kitchen to grab a quick drink. Once he was done he headed back to the comfy couch. Slowly, he crawled back under the blankets and closed his eyes.

He was just drifting off to sleep when his bladder suddenly started screaming at him. "Man," he whispered rather loudly. Then, with a loud sigh threw the blankets off and head towards the bathroom.

Walking towards the bathroom, he heard the wind and some cracking sounds. _That does not sound good! _He looked around the cabin nervously for a few moments, and then headed, once again, towards the bathroom.

After he was finished, he stared at him self in the mirror. _I do look older_. _I'm not as stocky as I was in high school. Course, I'm not playing sports like I did in high school. _He turned on the water to splash his face a little when there was a thundering crash outside the bathroom. Joe grabbed onto the counter and watched as the mirror threatened to fall from its perch on the wall.

When things seemed to have stopped he opened the door to investigate. His mouth dropped open from the devastation he saw. A tree had apparently given into the weight of the ice covering it and had crashed down through the corner of the living room.

The couch where Joe had been sleeping was now covered in debris. The couch where Frank was sleeping wasn't visible under the rubble of the ceiling and the tree.

Rushing forward, heedless of the ice coming in freely and his bare feet, Joe tried to search for his brother. "Frank!"


	29. Chap 6, bit 1

Frank stood for a moment staring at the door after it had closed behind Joe, his mouth hanging open

Well, I'm back. Had lots of fun and even came home with a few more dollars then I left with. :) So, back to the writing.

HBHBHBHB

"Frank!"

Frank heard the fear in his brothers voice, Frank had awaken to Joe heading into the bathroom. He noticed that the fire had been stoked, but he was still feeling a little cold, so he had opted to grab the bedspread off of his bed.

Upon hearing the thundering crash from the living room Frank grabbed the last corner and yanked before going to investigate. He got to the door way, standing seconds behind his frightened brother.

Frank reached out and grabbed Joe before he got a few feet way from him. "Joe, its okay, I'm right here."

Franks heart caught has Joe turned around and the fear emanating from his eyes was turned full force on him. He managed to catch Joe as he crumbled in sobs of relief.

Frank just held his brother for a few moments and patted him on the back. This reaction startled him a bit. They had many close calls in the past, and Joe was usually the stout one. Then, Frank's mind flitted about the conversations that they had been having on this trip and he knew that the emotions were just too raw for Joe to squander away.

He realized that Joe was slowing down a little and pulled back to look into his brothers face. "You okay?"

Joe looked doubtfully at him for a few moments and the Frank visibly saw the walls compartmentalizing this latest fear. "Yeah, man. I'm good." Joe stood up and wiped his face as he turned around.

Frank joined him in looking at the devastation around them. The wind was wiping around the room and bringing in freezing water with it. They were lucky that tree its self landed partially on the fireplace. The cheery fire from moments ago was now dosed from water and ice. "We need to figure out a way to stay warm until this storm is over."

"Well, we could seal ours selves in one of the rooms. The heater is still on, we could reroute it so it only goes into one room and bundle up for the night."

Frank was surveying the room as Joe was speaking. Joe's plan seemed easy enough, and luckily most of their stuff was in their rooms. That left only two things to really worry about in the living room; the satellite phone and the laptop with all of their work.

Frank made a decision, "You get to work on closing the vents and turning up the heat, I'm gonna see if I can salvage the phone and the laptop."

Frank caught Joe's doubtful eye, for a moment he thought Joe was going to protest, but then Joe nodded his consent and the brothers each got to work.

Frank picked his way to were he remembered the coffee table being. Frank quickly made work of digging through the rubble, all too aware of the fact that he was barefoot and there was freezing ice, raining down on him. Just when he thought he might have to abandon his search to warm his body, his figures brushed against the phone. With renewed vigor he drug faster. Next to the phone he found the laptop, as quickly as he could he pulled them both from the water, ice and rubble and brought them to Joe.

"I found them, but it doesn't look good." Frank shivered as he handed the things to Joe.

"Well, its something at least. Your room has the most direct line from the heater, so we are going to set up in there. Why don't you get a quick shower, if there is still hot water? I will work on making things warm, and see if I can get out and check to generator. I hope we have enough power to last the night. And that nothing else falls on this place!"

Frank stood there for a moment as Joe took control of the situation. It was really nice to have a brother that could be there and stay calm in a slight crisis. Frank shook his head when he realized that his teeth were chattering. He needed to get warm and fast.

"I put some of your clothes in the bathroom so you can get started A.S.A.P. on that shower. Don't worry, even if these are trashed, we'll figure it out. Now, get your butt in there and get your body warm!" Then Joe walked into the room to deposit the phone and laptop.

Frank just smiled and headed towards the bathroom, a nice warm shower did sound nice.


	30. Chap 6, bit 2

A/N So, I'm writing where the inspiration strikes. I am currently researching plot points for baseball, I do have half of a chapter done and hope to be able to post next week. :P Thanks for all of your support.

HBHBHB

Joe stood in the hallway making sure that Frank got the water started before heading into the room to finish getting everything dry he could find. Once he had gotten all of his clothes and striped everything from his bed he checked the hall closet for anything else they could use to keep warm. Carefully closing the door to let the heat build up, Joe bundled him self up to go check the heater outside.

He made a quick stop by the bathroom door, "Frank? You Okay in there?"

He listened hard and couldn't quiet hear what was said. So he opened the door a crack, not wanting too much of the warmer air to escape. "Say again?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Joe could hear that Frank turned his head towards him. "Finally getting to use warmer water. I'm just trying to get my body temp over normal, now, so I can make a run for the room."

Joe smiled to himself. "Okay, I'm gonna make a quick run outside to check the generator. I want to make sure we have enough fuel to last the night."

"Didn't you say that it was full?"

"My roommate told me that it was full. I actually meant to check it, and with everything, kinda forgot." Joe did feel a little guilty about it. Normally the brothers were better prepared. "So, I thought that I would run and double check."

"Okay, I should be out soon."

"'Kay, I have the room mostly set up. All of my stuff is in there. We might have to do a little organizing." Joe laughed at Frank's audible groan.

"Just make sure you have everything we are going to need. I will work on getting it more organized once I'm in there. Now, go way. I wanna get out and get to work, cleaning up your mess of my room!"

Joe laughed out loud once gain. "Okay, I'm going."

Joe grabbed one of the four flashlights off of the nightstand in Frank's room. Then made sure his jacket was closed up tight and put on his gloves. He stood in front of the door, breathing deep a few times. Attempting to ready him self to be out in the full force of the weather.

Opening the door he headed out. Immediately a blast of icy wind hit him almost knocking him back into the cabin. He bent over determined to get a ruff estimate of the energy they had left. He could feel the rain icing against his jacket. _Boy, am I glad the generator is just around the corner._

After what felt like twenty minutes Joe finally reached the generator. His fingers were numb from the cold. He pulled open the box that covered the generator. He fumbled a few times trying to get at the fuel gage. He was finally able to wipe of the cover of the gage and see. According to the gage, if they continued at their current rate of usage, the fuel would be used up in approximately, 2 hours.

Joe double checked. He tapped the gage a few times. It didn't budge. This couldn't be right! It meant the generator had been in use before and was never filled. Joe looked at his watch. "Damn!" The curse slipped from his mouth. _This night has gone from bad to worse! _They had five hours until daylight.


	31. Chap 6, bit 3

A/N Not happy with this bit. I think I am still channeling Sam and Dean from the marathon of watching I have been doing. :P And I am still working on Baseball. Anyway enjoy here.

HBHBHB

Frank hurried him self from the shower. He knew that with Joe occupied outside he could get some decent organizing done, with out to much complaining. He took a moments pause before opening the bathroom door, truth be told he wasn't really ready to face the cold again. His body was still fighting the ice knives from his earlier foray, the thought of facing the night battling against it didn't help his mood any. _Man, I have gone soft being in Cali._

Frank steeled himself for the cold blast and hurried to their, now, common room. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the destruction that his whirlwind of a brother had caused. Frank shook his head, he really loved his brother. Really. He did. Snorting in laughter at the predictable annoyance he went to work on the room.

He was almost done with the room and starting to worry about Joe when he heard the handle on the bedroom door. "Hey Joe. You weren't kidding why you said _a little_ organizing." Frank turned around with some of Joe's clothes in hand to toss at his brother. He was stopped by the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

Joe took a deep breath and threw off his hood before answering. "At our current rate of usage there is only enough fuel to last for the next two hours. I just turned down the heat from seventy to sixty. I think that will help some, but at most I think it will buy us another hour." Frank stared at his brother. This was not good news. They still had the coldest part of the night upon them, and who knew how long this storm would be ravaging above them.

If they turned the heat down even more and just tried to stay under the blankets it would help some, maybe going to fifty. He opened his mouth to suggest it to his brother, but Joe beat him to the punch.

"I'm willing to turn the heat down more, but not by much. We need to figure out a way to insulate or close of the living room so we aren't wasting so much heat."

"Turning down the heat will help a lot, and there isn't much we can do right now about a tree in the living room letting in the ice and rain." Frank knew it would be a bit of wasted effort to try and do anything around the tree. "I think if we just turned it down to fifty we would be kind of cold, but we should be fine."

Frank was a little taken back by the look on Joe's face. "You just practically gave your self hypothermia trying to save the laptop and phone. I can see that you are still kind of shivering. I'm not going to turn it down that much and let you really get hypothermia!"

Frank stared at Joe. He understood the logic in what he was saying. "Joe, you don't have the energy right now either. I can see your eyes squinting from the pain in probably both your head and your ankle. We can't afford to waste our energy and body heat try and patch up that room. Our best course is going to be in here, with the heat down to fifty and keeping track of each other." His collected gaze met his brothers. He watched a myriad of emotions cross quick across Joe's face.

"Fine. I'll turn it down to fifty. See if you can get at least the phone working again. We might need to call for help when this nightmare is over." Frank watched as his brother turned resolutely back out of the room.

Frank was just settling on the floor with a blanket around his shoulders when Joe came back into the room. Silently he set down some of the food he had rummaged from the kitchen. It seemed to be mostly crackers and something that looked like it could be trail mix.

Frank worked quietly pulling apart the satellite phone first. As he worked he absently watched his brother wonder around the room. At first Joe had taken off his jacket and shoved it at the bottom of the door. The he busied himself making piles of blankets near Frank and what Frank assumed was another pile for him self.

Frank knew that most of Joe's attitude was due to worry. But there was only so much he could deal with. Sighing loudly he set down the infuriating phone. "Look, Joe. I know that this situation sucks. But we have both gotten out of situations like this before. We will be fine."

Joe stopped what he was doing to turn around and give an incredulous look to him.

"Okay, maybe with a few minor injuries." Frank amended smiling at his brother's response. He was relieved when Joe smiled along with him.

Joe came over and sat down next him. "So, how is the phone coming?"

"Very slow. I don't think I'm going to be able to salvage it. But I haven't gotten into the laptop yet. I might be able to cannibalize parts to get at least one of them working. But I'm not holding my breath on that one."

"I heard that sometimes all you need to do is dry out a computer and it will work again?" Frank could hear the doubt in Joe's voice, but he also knew that Joe was just trying to get back onto talking grounds again.

"It depends. If it was only a little bit of water and if it didn't get into anything vital." Frank set down the satellite phone and reached for the laptop. "The major problem we have is that it was saturated." Carefully opening the case on the laptop Frank sighed audibly. There was water everywhere. "This doesn't look good."


	32. Chap 6, bit 4

A/N Just letting everyone know that I haven't abandend this one. I might have more time to work on this as it the holiday season...and my sisters are letting me use thier PCs. WOOT!

HBHBHBHBHBHBHBHB

Joe awoke with a jolt as a something slammed into his stomach. It took him a few moments to get his bearings. The night's events flooded his mind. He had watched Frank systematically work on both the laptop and the satellite phone for at least an hour before his body's aches and pains caught up with him. He remembered curling under his blankets silently watching his brother diligently working before his eyes had slid shut. But what had woken him.

Looking down towards his stomach he spied Frank's foot. Following the foot he found that Frank's body had obviously forcefully made him fall asleep. Joe removed Frank's foot from his stomach and then slowly reached a semi kneeling position to check on his brother.

As soon as the blankets fell from his shoulders he felt the chill of the room. It was cold, but they had survived playing outside in colder winters growing up in New York. Joe recovered Frank's lower extremities and then noticed that there was a heat radiating from his brother. _Damn it! _Joe's hand went immediately to Frank's forehead. Frank was starting to run a fever. Being barefoot in the literally freezing water was taking its toll on Frank.

Joe took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. _Well this complicates things. _Glancing at his watched he noted that about three hours had passed since he had looked at the generator.

The fact that there was still light in the room signaled that the generator was still working. So, turning the heat down did seem to help. Now he needed to figure out what to do about Frank's fever. On one hand he wanted to let Frank sleep knowing that his body did need it. But on the other hand getting some antibiotics into his brother as soon as possible was also a good idea.

The only issue was that he knew that tomorrow the likely hood of getting much sleep wasn't very good. They were going to need to hike their way to the ranger station. Or maybe the hunting retreat, it might be closer.

That seemed like a good idea. So letting Frank sleep as much as possible was what Joe was going to do. He was going to keep himself awake and keep an eye on Frank's fever, if it seemed to rise, then he would wake him up and make him take some antibiotics. Otherwise, it wasn't that high yet.

Joe settled once again under his blankets with a few crackers and started to look over Frank's progress with the Phone and Laptop, he might not have Frank's expertise, but he was no dummy when it came to electronics either.

It looked as though Frank had seen some way to pull parts from the laptop and use them in the phone, slightly modified. Joe tried to focus on what Frank was working on, but his vision blurred. Sighing he set the parts aside and concentrated on his crackers.

_Iola loved crackers and strawberry jelly._ Joe smiled at the random thought in his head. He and Iola had many arguments over the perfect spread on a cracker. Peanut butter was Joe's prime choice. _Funny that Cheese never came into the equation._

They had always seemed to be fighting over something. But it was just how their relationship worked. Everything with them was intense. They were both very passionate people. Even their last day together was no exception. Joe surmised that some of his current activities in school were because of that last fateful day with Iola.

Joe heaved a heavy sigh. _Iola has been gone for years and she still rules over my life._ "Well, Frank. You're right. I have been making some interesting choices in my life. And Iola does play a major part in it all. But it feels right. I'm just not sure if you or Dad are ready to handle it all yet."

The only response was a soft and wispy snore from Frank.


End file.
